Jungle Tier List (By TheOddOne)

Alright so as stated in my last post, I became aware of something that I subtly forgot about after crying for weeks after losing dreamhack which is my tier list. Though this time I’m going to attempt to ignore a lot of the champions as I can just change it later in case I’m wrong (trololo). Anyhow, this list is going to be for competitive play rather than solo queue as you can literally jungle anything like Annie and still win because the dunce effect in where the opposing team is bound to have more of them every few games (the other times they’re all on your team). This time I intend to make it far more useful and explain more as I was rushed like virtually the day before my flight to dreamhack to do the last one.

Talon Patch (Will be used for the upcoming IEM NYC Qualifier Finals)
Tier 1: Lee Sin, Nocturne, Gangplank
Tier 2: Fiddlesticks, Udyr, Nunu
Tier 3: Warwick, Trundle, Alistar, Amumu, Jarvan IV, Rammus, Olaf
Tier 4: Shaco, Master Yi
Tier I don’t Care: Everyone else unless I get wrecked by it at <insert next tournament here> then I’ll stealthily change it and act like I was correct all along.
Possible Current/Future high tier candidates: Maokai,Tryndamere, Cho’Gath


Tier 1: These guys are probably going to be banned or picked in 75% of games for competitive tournament matches as they excel in an area (support/roam/teamfight) and are very strong in the areas they don't excel in.
Tier 2: While not as dominant as the tier above, these guys are very strong picks to jungle as they do their role well, however unlike the tier above, they may be fairly weak in a certain area or not truly dominant in an area like above.
Tier 3: These guys are competent at jungling but tend to be extremely weak in a certain area and won't be as dominant in the support/roam/dragon role compared to the above tiers. Or in certain instances, I'd rather just see them lane than taking up a spot in jungle.
Tier 4: Useful in jungle but tend to be far less versatile than the above tiers and tend to be a really focused 'gimmick'. That said, these guys are really strong at that one area even if they're fairly weak (or useless even) in the other areas.
Tier don't care: While some of the champions in this area could work (Karthus), I doubt any of them will prove to be ready/useful enough for <insert next tournament>. That said, if our team does manage to lose to something from this tier, you can safely know that I'll stealthily change it to save face.
Possible future/current high tier Candidates: These guys aren’t weak, I’m actually very interested in their potential but don’t have a large enough experience using or facing one to truly have a solid take. However, I believe that these jungles are strong in a certain area and have the possibility of making one of the higher tiers (not 3 and 4). The reason for future/current is that I believe that without changes they could easily be strong but nobody has actually tried to seriously learn it well.


UpdateLog: Vers 2.0 Out, completely refitted to Talon Patch, Sept 6th 2011


Tier 1
Lee Sin:
Current Status: Probably near Orianna levels of Power, simply able to carry with wriggles/health items
Future Status: Likely going to be nerfed hard in the upcoming 1-3 patches.
Reasoning: Right now Lee Sin is basically the Tanky DPS that riot has been trying to avoid and in theory had successfully removed tanky DPS teams but Lee Sin is currently a faster moving Jarvan IV (pre mass nerfs). His damage is incredible, his utility is amazing, his CC is above average if not great (E is a aoe snowball essentially), he jungles very fast and does all of the above without needing a huge amount of farm.

Nocturne:
Current Status: Strong Bruiser, has superb ganking and can carry.
Future Status: Likely getting a few small nerfs as he has been hit a couple times already
Reasoning: If I had to guess which jungler on average farms the most in an average game, Nocturne/Master Yi would be my guesses. Because of Nocturne’s skillset, it allows him to clear waves/camps and split push as he can ult to join an adjacent lane. While his damage and CC isn’t as strong as Lee Sin’s, his utility makes up for it as his ultimate not only allows him to split push but also disorients the entire opposing team which can be gamebreaking when fighting in an area with brush.

Gangplank:
Current Status: Strong Ganker, strong support, above average carrying for a jungler
Future Status: Likely won’t be touched for a long time due to receiving nerfs in a record number of patches, but I believe he sits in a good spot for a long time to come.
Reasoning: While Nocturne has replaced Olaf, Gangplank has replaced Nunu. Gangplank plays very similar to Nunu in that it’s often inefficient to simply clear jungler instead of gank. His ganks are strong because his Raise Morale skill is extremely powerful and is superior to bloodlust due to its range and effect. Add in a faster projectile on his Parley (compared to iceblast) and his level 2 gank is extremely potent. He also has a stronger late game than Nunu as his skillset just naturally does more damage however unlike Nocturne/LeeSin he has to decide between tankiness and damage as he is fairly item reliant on both of those aspects.

Tier 2:

Fiddlesticks:
Current Status: Solid Ganker, Absurd CC, High Magic Damage (rarity in junglers)
Future Status: Likely will be nerfed/finetuned due to his solo queue domination (see XinLulz)
Reasoning: I personally think Fiddle is a stronger version of Amumu, both of them are fairly team reliant except Fiddle less so and can actually do stuff on his own, Amumu has trouble doing anything alone. Fiddle has strong pressure on dragon and teamfights as it forces the enemy to be constantly weary of engaging as they could walk into a fiddle ult. Due to less reckless play in arranged teams, Fiddle usually has very few windows if any to engage on the enemy as they’ll often throw their tank in front so if fiddle were to go in towards the back lines, he’d be focused down quickly as his team is focusing the tank. For the same reason I hate Amumu, I often dislike any champion that heavily relies on allies to perform after a no way out initiation.

Udyr:
Current Status: Very Strong Ganker, Fast Jungler, Instant CC
Future Status: Likely won’t be changed anytime soon.
Reasoning: Udyr has similar mobility to Gangplank, he simply roams the map extremely well and is able to perform strong ganks due to his flexibility in builds/routes. He also has a spammable stun which is extremely rare on a jungler and is useful with lizard buff to proc it a second time. Udyr’s greatest weakness lies in the fact he requires a significant amount of farm to tank and do damage, often he’ll be mediocre at both late game unless his team allowed him to take lane farm constantly but unlike Nocturne is unable to get it as he can’t rejoin his allies quickly to do it effectively.

Nunu
Current Status: Strong Ganker, Strong Support, Strong Counter Jungler, Strong Roamer
Future Status: Possible minor buffs due to nobody liking his playstyle in solo queue and when nobody plays a champion, often they’ll have a minor buff
Reasoning: Nunu’s strengths have diminished as of late because everyone else got stronger in the jungle and his nerfs. In terms of counter jungling, the high tier champions actually have a counter to it; simply fighting back. Nunu will have trouble stopping the Tier 1s from jungling due to the fact they’re simply strong damagewise and could easily kill a Nunu if he isn’t careful. However Nunu is still strong at the duties of a support as he can cover his carries far better than anyone else due to his slow spam and buffs. Nunu’s biggest flaw is the fact he is solely support late game as he can’t damage worth a damn later due to his slow farming in the jungle.


Tier 3:
Possibly in a future update I’ll start to put reasoning for these champions.