4.21 Jungle Part 3

     Hiya everyone! This is part 3 of my 4.21 jungle post. In this post, I'll be talking about the top 10 jungle champion's in solo queue as of this patch. I'll be ranking champions and discussing their strength's/weaknesses. I'll post them from weakest to strongest. Keep in mind that, even if a champion isn't posted on this list, that doesn't necessarily make them a bad pick. A lot of champion's are viable this patch. This list is just composed of the top 10 that I BELIEVE are slightly better than the rest.

10. Nocturne

     In the latest patch, Nocturne received a buff to his E - Unspeakable Horror. Now, when a target is feared, Nocturne gains massively increased moving speed when moving towards that target. I honestly feel that the buff to Nocturne helps him significantly in the early game. His pre-6 ganks prior to this buff were lackluster but the buff makes the ganks nothing to scoff at, especially with red buff. If you can get your fear channel off, you can more or less guarantee a kill depending on who you're ganking. 

     Nocturne has always been a strong champion though even before 4.21. His clearspeed is decent due to his passive and his AD/AS steroid from his q. His W is powerful if used correctly for absorbing spells (e.g. to absorb some type of CC or to gain increased attack speed while doing neutral objectives like dragon and baron). His E fear was a little lackluster but is now significantly more powerful due to the movement speed bonus. His ultimate, in my opinion, is a little rough to deal with due to the incredibly long cooldown (3 minutes at rank 1). It's great for pick potential and the fear factor but can be played around with deep wards to know where Nocturne plans on ulting. Also, the ult can be dealt with by just flashing after Nocturne ults you. 

Pros : Decent pre-6 ganks. Great clearspeed. Decent objective control. Strong pick potential.

Cons : E fear is a little weak. Can be invaded on early game by Lee Sin/Rengar/etc. Ultimate can be countered with flash. 

9. Wukong 

     

     The season 5 jungle revolves around teamfighting and one of the best teamfight champions out there is Wukong. This is due to the damage he puts out with his ultimate as well as the disruption that the ultimate provides.

     Wukong's strengths are in teamfighting. His pre-6 presence isn't terrible and he can pull off okay ganks as long as he has red buff. Wukong's clearspeed is decent as well since his E does damage to up to 3 targets. He can also use his clone (W) to tank minion damage so he stays healthier in the jungle. His level 6 ganks are incredibly potent. Sneaking in with the clone and engaging with E + R can result in near guaranteed kills, especially if the enemy team has no summoner spells. Wukong's Q also shreds armor so he does a large amount of damage with few damage items built. His key issues are that he can get a little unhealthy in the early game. Picking a strong skirmishing jungler into a Wukong and invading the Wukong is a decent idea. If you can put him behind early game, Wukong take's more time to ramp up for teamfights. He also has rough mana costs and may be forced into choosing the Trailblazer jungle item to deal with mana issues. 

Pros : Okay pre-6 ganks with red buff. Decent clearspeed and can tank minion aggro with clone. Incredible teamfight presence with ultimate. Does a lot of damage with not very many damage items (e.g. Warrior enchantment + Brutalizer). 

Cons : Without red buff, has a rough time getting great ganks off without ult. Can be invaded on early game. Has high mana costs and may be forced into picking Trailblazer.

8. Kha'Zix

      

     The man can't put him down. The bug is STILL viable. By far my favorite champion, Kha'Zix has been hit by a nerf nearly every patch (with buffs here and there). The key issue is that Kha'Zix now needs to snowball because he's item dependent. 

      Kha'Zix has one of the best jungle kit. His Q is on a short CD and does decent damage/incredible damage if they're isolated. His W heals to let him sustain, slows, and can be used as great poke if evolved. His E has a reset mechanic when evolved and allows him to get in/out of situations relatively easily. His R stealths him for a short period of time and resets his passive (deals bonus magic damage on next auto attack when the enemy doesn't see him). 

     Kha'Zix has relatively strong gank presence early/mid game but has a little bit of trouble with his first clear. After his first clear, his clearspeed is decent. Due to having trouble on his first clear, he is susceptible to early invades. He snowballs INCREDIBLY hard because of his scaling with items and can carry super hard. However, at the same time, he can be shut down if he can't get gold from kills/camp. You can pick and choose how you want to play him by evolving his E first for better ganks/resets for teamfights or evolving his W first for poking in teamfights/AoE slow. For the most part, you evolve E -> Q -> W though. In some cases, you may evolve W -> E -> Q or  E -> W -> Q. It's more dependent on what's happening in the game. His ult is very rarely evolved but is useful if you're getting bursted down very hard. Also, he has very strong objective control with his q due to an incredibly high AD ratio on it.

Pros : Versatile champion. Strong early/mid game presence. Decent clearspeed after first clear. Snowballs HARD. Very strong objective control with Q damage. 

Cons : First clear is tough. Can be invaded. Item dependent. Has rough mana costs which can be helped with Trailblazer item. 

7. Rek'Sai

     This is the latest champion in League of Legends and man, does she do a LOT of damage. Rek'Sai has a strong kit and puts out an absurd amount of damage while maintaining mild tankyness. Her burrow mechanic also leads to very powerful ganks.

     Rek'Sai's Q is an auto attack reset and does a large amount of AoE damage in the early game. Her W, burrow, allows her to sustain in the jungle by healing you with the fury that you generate while auto attacking/using abilities. Also, the unburrow mechanic allows her to knockup jungle camps which helps her clearspeed by preventing the mobs from attacking. Unburrow also makes for great disruption for teamfights and ganks. Her E does a large amount of damage and does more damage depending on your fury. It also does true damage if you have 100 fury. In burrow, it lets you create a tunnel which can be used to get into great positions for ganks, manuever or juke enemy players, or can be used to ult onto to get around the map really quickly. Her R is incredibly powerful as it functions as a teleport. You just need to make good decisions on where you place your tunnels. 

     Her key issues are that you may think she's more of a frontline champion but I've found that she's more suited to be a bruiser. Because of this, it's best not to be the one engaging because she can be bursted down very hard. You also have reduced vision while underground. If you don't pay attention to the ripples to figure out where enemies are, you may run into an unfavorable situation. Her burrow form Q allows her to scout and the ripple allows her to scout as well though. Rek'Sai can also be kited pretty easily. Other than her initial gapcloser, she has no slow. She's also very susceptible to CC.

Pros : High damage. Great map presence. Powerful early/mid game. Decent disruption if you can get into the fight.

Cons : Not as tanky as you'd think she'd be, even with tank items. Can be kited very easily. CC destroys her. 

6. Rengar

     Stab kitty is still in it to win it. Rengar is probably one of the most terrifying junglers in the game due to how his ultimate functions. With high base damage, Rengar doesn't even need many damage items to be able to destroy the enemy AD carry by himself.

     Rengar is one of the more difficult champion's to jungle as but he also is one of the most rewarding if you're skilled with him. His kit revolves around empowering his Q - W - E. His Q is an auto attack reset that does a large amount of damage but also, when using the empowered q , helps with clearspeed due to an increased attackspeed. His W provides some armor/mr and, when empowered, helps Rengar sustain in the jungle by healing him. His E is the portion of his kit that makes his ganks very terrifying. His normal E simply slows but his empowered E is a 1.75s root which is more than enough time to be eaten alive by Rengar. His ultimate reveals all enemies nearby, stealths Rengar, and increases his movement speed. It also allows you to jump onto a target, which, if combined with a 5 ferocity bola, is an almost guaranteed root. It then regens ferocity which can be used for another 5 ferocity root back to back making INCREDIBLY potent ganks.

     Rengar's early game is critical. He needs to snowball so early ganks are important. The issue is that Rengar has a VERY rough first clear, basically requiring you to back after 3 camps and making you incredibly susceptible to early invades. However, he also can early invade if he simply takes one camp (e.g red buff). In this case, you'd have 5 ferocity and attempt to get an early first blood. Rengar's ability to gank through lanes (e.g. in top lane and bot lane) with his bush passive makes him have a powerful pre 6. His post 6, if mixed in with early mobility boots, almost always result in successful ganks as well since the enemy has very little time to react to the exclamation point that'll appear over their head. One main problem with Rengar is that he needs to snowball which can be an issue if a lot of your early ganks don't work out. Another issue is that he needs to actively communicate with his team on his engages since an empowered bola is a 1.75s window of action if you catch a target. His pick potential is powerful and he can solo kill a lot of targets depending on the type of item build he chooses though. He's a very high risk, high reward champion. 

Pros : High base damage and scaling. Can be built as a carry or a bruiser and is incredibly effective as both. Early/mid game presence is incredibly strong. If good at landing skillshots, can almost guarantee a kill with every ultimate. Ultimate also gives vision so useful for utility. Can easily invade level 2. Amazing pick potential. 

Cons : Horrific jungle sustain. If you don't invade, can be susceptible to invades. High skill cap, very dependent on ferocity management and bush mechanics. E skillshot requires practice and can screw over ganks if missed. Snowballs hard but has very little presence lategame if you don't snowball. 

5. Vi

     Vi is one of the more simplistic but powerful junglers in this patch. She has powerful early/mid game presence and is very useful in the late game as well. She's always been a strong pick but a lot of other junglers got nerfed which made her one of the best to pick.

     Vi has decent clearspeed with her Q (positioning) + W (armor shred) + E (cone). Her passive helps her sustain in the jungle by absorbing the damage. Her pre-6 ganks aren't terrible but they could be better. If you land the Q, you can force a flash VERY easily. Her post 6 ganks are amazing though considering it's a point and click lockdown on any target in range. Her ability to jump terrain with her Q as well as flash engages with Q make her incredibly powerful in that sense as well. Her W also does % health damage so she's decent at taking neutral objectives. She's also pretty good at getting picks off with her ultimate. 

     Her key issues are that she has high mana costs and that she has no real way to get out of sticky situations after she gets in. This is mainly because a Vi may use her Q to engage... but that was also her only method of disengage as well. 

Pros : Clear. Post 6 ganks. Initiations. Pick potential. Objective control.

Cons : High mana costs. No disengage. 

4. Shaco

    I know what you might be thinking. What? Shaco? Uh... No, trust me. I honestly believe that Shaco is one of the best junglers in season 5. This champion is terrifying with his ability to snowball lanes.

     Shaco is notorious as a champion for ganking. Early game revolves around your powerful early game where you focus on using your ability to jump over terrain/stealth to set up easy ganks. And, honestly, his ganks are super easy once you get used to the champion. Camping is encouraged. His first clear is quick and easy. You take very little damage and will be able to get a gank off after a quick buff -> camp -> buff. Shaco also takes very little damage in the jungle with box dancing in general. You're also able to level 2 invade the enemy jungle, especially if you run ignite, and kill the enemy jungler at their 2nd buff. His pick potential is high as well, especially if he snowballs. His teamfight presence is okay in the sense that you can blow up a squishy very quickly but he's better suited for split pushing and assassinating whoever tries to stop you.

     Shaco, however, does have a few major issues. The biggest and most obvious one is that Shaco is an incredibly high skill cap akin to someone like Lee Sin. His abilities have a lot of benefits that require a lot of experience on the champion to use them to the full potential, especially with something like clone maneuvering and proper box management. If Shaco doesn't gank effectively in his early game, he'll have very little gold due to not being a farm champion, thus rendering him completely useless. Shaco's lategame is also pretty mediocre since he's more of either a "burst and pray" or a split push centric champion. It's a fact that a good shaco is terrifying but a bad shaco is useless. He definitely requires a lot more practice than most of the other champion's listed here.

Pros : Powerful early ganks. Strong early-mid game presence. High damage if snowballed. Powerful early invades. Great first clear. Strong pick potential. Decent objective control. Decent at split pushing.

Cons : High skill cap. Mediocre late game. Useless if not used effectively in the early game. Clearspeed is mediocre.

3. Jarvan IV

    With another slight "buff" to Jarvan in the patch 4.21 patch, Jarvan continues to climb up the ranks of great junglers. His kit is one of the easiest to use and best jungle kits out there right now.

     The key things with Jarvan is his presence throughout the game. Jarvan has an incredibly strong early, mid, AND late game. He also fits into almost every team composition. Jarvan also has pretty decent clearspeed & stays relatively healthy in the jungle. His initiation is incredibly strong with his E -> Q  -> R. His early game skirmishing is strong due to his E -> Q knock up as well as his passive which deals 10% of the enemies current health as bonus physical damage. His early ganks are potent, especially with red buff. If he walks into lane, autos a laner to slow them, and then E -> Q for an easy knockup, it's an almost guaranteed kill pre 6. His W allows him to sustain slightly in the jungle because of the shield. His E -> Q combo allows him to easily maneuver around the map and can set up very interesting ganks.

     Some main issues with Jarvan is that his first clear is a little rough. He's susceptible to an early invade. He's also a little mana hungry which can be remedied with a Ranger's Trailblazer. His ult is also still buggy and some champion's can waddle out of it, despite it being classified as impassable terrain. His E->Q->R also moves him pretty far so you might move too ahead of your team. His ultimate also functions as terrain for your own team so you need to place your ultimate correctly in a teamfight to avoid screwing over your own teammates (or cancel it when you need to).

Pros : Powerful all throughout the game. Has strong early ganks. Incredibly powerful initiation. Early skirmishing is very strong. Fits into almost every team composition. Decent clearspeed. Very mobile.

Cons : Tough first clear. Can get invaded. Mana hungry. Buggy ultimate. Use combo correctly in a teamfight. Ultimate positioning can screw over teammates. "I'm Jarvan! I'm helping!"

2. Fiddlesticks

      Fiddlesticks is quite possibly the most terrifying jungler on this list just because of his teamfighting prowess. In a meta where teamfighting is critical, this champion reigns supreme. 

     The jungle is significantly more difficult to clear through for most champions, especially if you don't have sustain. But Fiddlesticks has no problems at all. This champion, with his W (Drain), remains healthy in the jungle. Fiddlesticks requires one item to completely and utterly decimate an entire enemy team regardless of if a turret is backing up the enemy team or not. Zhonya's Hourglass. With his ultimate, he can dive turrets, do a ridiculous amount of AoE damage, and then Hourglass right after to stop from dying. In addition, Fiddlesticks has powerful CC in the form of his fear. His fear lasts upwards of 2.25. His silence is also pretty annoying in a teamfight. Fiddlesticks also can, unless ignited or interrupted, drain through basically all the damage almost any champion can deck out, healing for up to 80% of his damage dealt. This champion is basically pick or ban in high elo.

     The main issues with Fiddlesticks are his mana costs, CC, and vision control. Fiddlesticks is very mana hungry so it's useful to get Trailblazer on him. Otherwise, take blue buffs. Fiddlesticks is also a champion that channels his ultimate and drain. Any type of CC will seriously screw him over. As for vision control, Fiddlesticks needs to clear out vision to make sure that the enemy team doesn't know where he's ulting from. Then he can channel his ultimate off and destroy teamfights. 

Pros : Clears. CC. Incredible teamfighting (good ult = you win teamfight). Ult functions as a "flash" so powerful initiaton. Strong objective control. 

Cons : High mana costs. CC destroys him because of his channeled spells. Requires proper vision control.

1. Pantheon

     Sparta. Or something.

     Pantheon is largely considered one of the strongest, if not the strongest early game jungler. His early game damage is incredibly high, especially considering the fact his auto attacks crit if the target is below 15% health and his Q does 100% more damage if the target is below 15% health as long as he has one point in his E. His W is a targetted stun. You walk into lane, you press W, and the enemy laner can't move for 1 second. His passive allows him sustain in the jungle because you can block large monster attacks. This passive also allows him to solo kill dragon early on. He's also incredibly good at level 2 invades because of his high damage output. If itemized correctly, he can scale relatively well into the late game as long as he snowballs. His pre-6 ganks are pretty strong due to his high damage output but his post 6 ganks with his ultimate are incredibly potent as well, especially when used in bottom lane. It's largely considered a free double kill if the ultimate is positioned correctly. His teamfight initiation is also incredibly strong with his ultimate. His increased damage + crit chance on low health targets also makes him amazing at objective control. 

     Pantheon's key issues are player issues. He needs proper itemization or Pantheon has trouble scaling into the lategame. Generally, your best bet is to build armor penetration (Warrior enchantment -> Brutalizer -> Last Whisper). He also is very dependent on proper usage of your ultimate. Ultimate positioning is key. He also is very good at going IN.... but he really has trouble getting out. He has no actual escapes other than his summoner spells. 

Pros : Incredibly strong early game. Great mid game. Lategame is a little lackluster but you can make it work. Super strong level 2 invade. Can solo dragon early on. Snowballs super hard. Amazing early ganks. Near guaranteed double kills in bot lane with proper ult positioning post 6. Powerful initiation with ultimate. Strong objective control with increased auto attack/q damage on low health targets.

Cons : Mediocre late game, especially if poorly itemized. Need proper positioning on ultimate. Has no escapes.

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     Alright guys. That's my personal top 10 list for 4.21. Remember that a lot of these are likely to change when 4.22 comes out and I'll make another one then. If you have any feedback, I'd REALLY appreciate it since this is my first time ever making a list like this. If you have any questions, toss a comment here or send me a tweet at @Lilnovalas. Thanks for reading guys and happy jangling! <3