Some champions in League of Legends are just much stronger than others.
For junglers, there are multiple considerations when weighing which champions are better. The most important thing to look at, and the most obvious, is whether the champion would be good at ganking and either securing kills or aiding their teammates in doing so. Behind the scenes, though, is where things get complicated.
Clear speed, invasion pressure, and macro mobility are all factors that need to be evaluated for keeping up with the enemy jungler. The best jungle champions are the ones that can do it all.
This list of top-tier champions can change depending on a number of things. Sometimes the meta shifts for no apparent reason other than players’ tastes, but usually there’s some kind of balance update, small or large, that’s behind the sudden change. It can be difficult to keep up on the flavor-of-the-month champs, so let us do it for you.
Here’s our current tier list for the best jungle champions in League of Legends.
Here are our top five junglers for League’s Patch 10.22.
Elise
Pros
- Six abilities at level three
- Untargetability via spider form E ability
- Strong burst damage
Cons
- Gets outscalled by other meta junglers
- Hard to come back if behind
Elise is one of the most popular AP junglers who excels at snowballing the game early on before she reaches the mid to late game. While she’s a strong early-game pick, she falls off. If you fail to snowball, you’re most likely going to become a crowd-control bot.
Elise can exploit enemies starting from level three where she gets access to three human-form abilities and three spider-form abilities. The ability to become untargetable allows for early dives on low-health opponents while minimizing the risk of dying to a tower.
Item build
Elise uses the Domination tree. It grants her access to additional damage from Electrocute, Cheap Shot, and Eyeball Collection, which synergizes extremely well with Elise’s burst damage. Relentless Hunter makes you mobile and allows you to roam the map much faster.
The Sorcery secondary synergizes well with the aggressive playstyle of Elise. Nimbus Cloak allows you to close the gap with enemies faster by using smite on them and Waterwalking lets you move around in the river and contest Scuttle Crabs early on.
Ability priority
Elise’s ability priority is R>Q>W>E. Your Q is your primary direct damaging tool. It serves as a good initiation tool when ganking to deal maximum percent health damage and acts as an execute when you go into spider form. W is maxed second for the additional burst damage, while E is maxed last since the additional damage acts better than the lower cooldown on your CC. The best CC is death.
Game plan
Elise is an aggressive jungler that should focus on roaming the map on a constant basis and invading the enemy jungler. You’re extremely strong early on due to having access to six abilities. Use that to your advantage and punish enemies who are out of position with swift ganks and dives under tower.
Contest the Scuttle Crabs early on with Waterwalking, which grants you additional movement speed and ability power while in the river. Focus on maintaining an aggressive playstyle and constant ganks. The moment you start focusing on farm is the moment you lose the game.
Elise doesn’t scale as well as other junglers and you should keep that in mind if you intend to go to the late game. Your goal is to build an advantage early on and allow your team to carry the game.
Graves
Pros
- Mobile
- Tanky
- Rewarding if mastered
Cons
- Relies on snowballing
- Hard to come back if behind
Graves is one of the most popular picks this patch after the resurgence of strong champions that can be kited, such as Ornn in the top lane, Galio in the mid lane, and Trundle in the jungle. He is the master at kiting enemies and slowly chipping their health bars down. He is one of the most reliable snowballing champions due to how easy it is to gank with Graves. You have access to a dash, which allows you to pass through walls, and a smoke bomb, which slows and denies vision from the enemy champions.
Item build
There are a lot of viable builds for Graves but the most picked one is the kiting version with the Sorcery tree as the core tree due to Phase Rush. It grants you insane kiting potential and it’s easy to proc. Sorcery’s Celerity and Water Walking make you swift and much harder to catch. While some champions could not get away with such a rune style, Graves has more than enough damage in his kit to compensate for the no-damage runes.
The secondary tree is Precision due to Legend: Alacrity, which grants you the much-needed attack speed, and Triumph for those cheeky low-health plays from which you come unscathed and gain extra gold.
Ability priority
Graves’s ability priority is R>Q>E>W. His Q is the only damaging tool in his kit which will help you clear waves. E is maxed second for the extra mobility and additional resists. Try to time it from camp to camp so that it doesn’t fall off and you will barely lose any health in the jungle, allowing you to clear camps safely and then force an invade or a gank early on. While W is one of the best vision denials spells in the game, the effectiveness of Q and E is much more superior so it’s maxed last after them.
Game plan
Graves is one of the most mobile junglers in League. You should use this to your advantage and try to gank lanes from unexpected angles. Always carry a sweeper to clear wards before you come for ganks. Use the water walking rune to your advantage and fight over in the river if someone comes to contest the scuttle crab. Your runes are perfect for such fights early on and you should win most of them with no issues.
Going into the mid-game, try to kite in team fights and use the E reset to get good burst damage on an overextended opponent. Don’t waste R for damage early on. Instead, try to catch people off guard who flash away with low health and burst them down.
Ekko
Pros
- Extremely mobile
- Forgiving ultimate
- AoE crowd control
Cons
- Useless if behind
- Weak vs. tanks
Ekko excels in roaming around the map and picking up kills. He has the potential to carry games with his high burst and crowd-control abilities. Even though his jungle clear speed isn’t as fast after recent attack speed nerfs, he still remains a contested pick in solo queue for mid laners and junglers. When ganking, he has the ability to completely zone out enemies and control the fight. As he scales into the game, he just becomes stronger.
Item build
The Domination tree is essential on Ekko. It grants him everything he needs, like additional damage via Dark Harvest, Sudden Impact, and Zombie Ward. Similarly, he gains additional utility via Zombie Ward and sustain via Ravenous Hunter. While some players prefer to go for Electrocute instead of Dark Harvest to be stronger early, Dark Harvest scales much better into the mid to late game. Ekko’s secondary tree is more flexible, with most players going for Precision for the additional tenacity and mana from Presence of Mind.
Ability priority
Ekko’s skill priority is: R>Q>E>W. You want to max Q since it directly affects your ability to clear camps. It will also increase your damage output during your ganking attempts. After maxing Q, max E to move around a teamfight faster and proc your Lichbane if you went for it. Max W last since the damage increase from Q and the mobility from E are more valuable than the utility from W.
Game plan
Your goal is to clear camps to reach level three as soon as possible to have access to all basic abilities and then look for a gank opportunity. The ability to dash over walls coupled with the stun from W should allow you to easily force flashes on overextended enemies.
Carry a sweeper ward and use it to clear vision around the map to spawn Zombie Wards, which will give you additional vision and ability power. Once you reach level six, look for dives on enemy champions. Your ultimate allows you to overextend by bringing you back to safety where you were four seconds ago.
Lillia
Pros
- AoE CC
- Easy to play
- Useful throughout the entire game
Cons
- Requires great orb-walking
Lillia is the latest jungle champion released that took over the meta. She feels like an improved Hecarim, except being focused on ability power instead of attack damage. Her kit feels rewarding and she’s a menace in the right hands.
While Hecarim focuses on diving in, Lillia is more of a ranged champion that needs to orb-walk to be efficient. If you dive in, you’ll explode. If you stay too far away, you won’t be doing any damage. But if you’ve played carry-ranged champions in the jungle, Lillia is the right pick for you.
Item build
Sorcery is picked as the primary tree for Lillia with Phase Rush as its keystone due to how broken it is. It’s a requirement right now for most junglers if you want to catch up to all the mobile champions in League. Your movement speed is going to be enhanced by other runes as well, such as Nimbus Cloak, Celerity, and Waterwalking.
The secondary tree is Domination for Cheap Shot and Ravenous Hunter. The first rune will ensure you do some additional true damage after you land CC, while Ravenous Hunter will keep you topped off in teamfights and make you deceptively tanky the longer a fight goes. But if you feel like you won’t need the kiting capabilities of the Sorcery tree, you could go for Domination with Dark Harvest as the primary keystone to be a damaging menace instead.
Ability priority
Lillia’s ability priority is R>Q>W>E. Your Q is your primary tool to farm and deal damage, so you want it maxed first. W is maxed second for the additional damage, helping you land kills during a gank or a teamfight. E is maxed last for its lackluster utility. The skill itself is decent but leveling it up feels inefficient.
Game plan
Lillia, the whimsical jungler, relies on farming up early and getting her core items of Liandry’s Torment and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. With these two items combined, you’ll become tanky and annoying to deal with.
To reach that point, though, you need to secure enough gold. You should do this by ensuring you clear camps on time, land some ganks early on, and secure the scuttle crabs. Try to avoid fighting during your early levels since most meta junglers will destroy you. But as the game goes by, you’ll eventually outscale them and pay them back for their aggressive moves early on.
Evelynn
Pros
- Flexible gameplay style
- Straightforward kit
- Exceptional teamfighter
Cons
- Needs to snowball to be effective
Kayn received a few buffs a couple of patches ago and has quickly risen in play rate and win rate. His recent popularity is also due to his great match-ups in the current jungle meta. While Rhaast is the most picked form, Shadow Assassin is good for certain compositions as well if you need an assassin to delete the enemy carries before they can react.
Item build
Kayn is flexible when it comes to runes and can use multiple types of keystones and rune combinations easily. The most successful one remains Conqueror, though, due to how strong this keystone is for bruisers. It grants you additional attack damage and healing when fully stacked, which is strong when coupled with Kayn’s self-sustain.
Triumph is taken for the low-health risky plays. Legend: Tenacity is the best in the second row because you need to go Ninja Tabi most of the time for the early game armor. Mercury Threads are taken in extreme cases when the enemy team is filled with crowd control. Last Stand is the best in the third row since you’ll be fighting for long periods of time with this build.
The second row is as flexible as the first one. Most players prefer to go for Bone Plating and Revitalize for the additional sustain and tankiness.
Ability priority
Kayn’s skill priority is R>Q>W>E. You want to max your Q first for the damage and mobility. It will help you clear out camps quickly and move through walls without issues. W is maxed second for the damage and crowd control. E is maxed last since the utility and damage from Q and W outweigh the utility from E.
Game plan
Kayn is a bruiser or an assassin depending on which gameplay style you intend to go for. If you go for the bruiser build, you should look to farm and get your core items as quickly as possible so that you don’t fall behind and are ready for mid-game fights. If you go for the assassin route, try to gank as often as possible to keep the enemies down and pull the game into your favor before it gets extended and you get outscaled.
Learn how your E interacts with walls to get the most value out of it during the game and get unexpected ganks.
