What is the Role of the Jungler Player in League of Legends?

Jungler in league of Legends
What is the Role of the Jungler Player in a Game Such as League of Legends and other online Battle Arena Games?

The jungle is the player that calls the middle of the map between the other lanes their home and has the mission of providing many different benefits to the team in the game. Jungler style characters play an important role in the (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games) MOBA genre and are critical to the success of a match. Where the character known as the ADC or “Attack Damage Carry” is the backbone of the team, the jungle will be the glue that helps build and keep everything together. From killing enemies to scouting out important positions, the jungle will provide many important aspects to the game.

Jungler Player in League of Legends

DanDy is the name that resonates throughout any competitive League of Legends fan, to the point where players that only pay attention to the Western scene will recognize the name of the greatest jungler player of all time. An OGN champion, and a World Champion, DanDy’s greatest strength as a jungler comes from the fact that there is a bar of excellence that he will never drop below.

DanDy – The Jungler Player

DanDy - The Jungler Player
DanDy – The Jungler Player

The most complete jungler in every sense of the word; DanDy is a master at nearly every single aspect of the jungle. His vision control is the best out of any jungler on this list; and when paired with Mata, it was seemingly impossible to pull out any sort of unexpected strategy against Samsung White.

This jungle player control was stellar; leaving no resources for the enemy jungle to pull from due to his very unpredictable ganking or farming style. His skills were not shown against weaker junglers that only played a supportive role for their team; he played against the best of the best and almost always came out on top. DanDy was nearly perfect; and is truly not only the greatest juggler of all time but one of the greatest players of all time.

Almost all top-tier teams will have a designated player in this role; because without one they will be fighting an uphill battle the entire match. It is imperative thus to understand why this role is valuable; and how it will impact your wagers in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games.

How the Jungler works

How Jungler works in League of Legends
How the Jungler works

The beginning parts of a game can be the most critical; because it is where players will be racing to see who will be pushing the pace for the rest of the match. If one team gets a significant lead right at the start; then they will be able to get their carry player stronger and their teammates geared.

The jungle starts off the game by going into the centre of the map; and killing the non-player character (NPC) enemies to earn gold and experience quickly.

Here they will fight against the opposing team jungle for supremacy over the middle of the map.

If the player manages to kill the opposing team jungle, all the better. It will set their enemy back by having that player missing from the battle, waiting to respawn. The amount of time they are losing can allow the opposing team to get even stronger and become even more dominant.

NPCs in the middle will provide gold; and experience to the player killing them, and is a great way early in the game to get gold. The player in the middle gets tasked with providing their teammates gold, so they can quickly get stronger.

The jungle is a critical area of the map

Jungler in League of Legends

Whoever has control of the middle of the map will determine who can quickly amass the largest amount of resources first; and thus supply their team with more gold to grow their strength. Think of the jungler as the engineer in assembling a great weapon.

The engineer puts in the groundwork; and finds every advantage that they can, so they can put out their designated product to decimate their opponents. The quicker and more effective a jungle is at their tasks; the faster they can help build up their carry and move towards victory.

Best for Enemies

Best for Enemies
Best for Enemies

Junglers are not just your standard little worker bees running around getting resources; but they are also the assassins of the team picking out targets to eliminate. They are often high damage dealing characters who can move around the map quickly.

One of the essential duties that the jungler has is the ability to pick off the enemy players; who are foolish enough to ignore their surroundings. Whether a person is pushing too deeply into enemy territory; or just trying to retreat to safety, the jungler may be stalking them and preventing their escape.

The jungle does not only stay within the middle area of the map, but can pop out in any of the lanes and pounce on any unsuspecting hero with deadly efficiency. It does not matter what point of the game that it is; a well-executed kill can be very problematic for any team.

A few quick kills at the beginning can dramatically impact the ability of the opposing team to gather strength; and provide teammates with early pushes to knock out towers. It will change how the enemy approaches the game because they will be on the defensive right away; all thanks to the jungler.

The further into the game; the higher the ramifications are when a player gets killed because they could be out of the fight for a solid few minutes. As the game progresses; the respawn timers for heroes increases, and anytime they are out of the game it puts their team further behind.

The jungler has a great ability to impact the strength of a lane; and even before the initial team fight, can shape the battle by removing a potential player.  One cannot dismiss the critical benefits that this role provides to the team and how truly important it is.

Jungler and it’s impact on your bets

Jungler in League of Legends
Jungler and it’s impact on your bets

Your bets will get placed based on how a team works together overall; rather than being reliant on one specific player to be responsible for a win or loss directly. However, when you are determining who you want to place your wagers on; you are looking for any subtle hint of success.

Obviously, you’d rather not have a 50/50 chance when placing down your wager; and would want to know which team is poised the best for a path to victory. Although every role is essential; understanding who is filling the jungler role may just give you that advantage you are seeking.

As bettors, understanding what makes a good jungle can be the difference on what team you want to place a bet on. A player who is great in this role can shape a match quickly; and will place their opponents on the defensive immediately.

Team roles are an imperative part of individual player research that needs to be done; so when there are roster trades or substitutions; you will know what that can mean for a team.

Know the Star Player

Know the Star Player
Know the Star Player

Knowing whether a star player is currently involved in the game will change how you may bet. It would be the same as if Tom Brady were not on the Patriots; and there was a substitution for the entire game. That would impact how you would want to put down your wager; because logically you would have accounted the Brady factor into your wagering equation.

The same concepts apply to esports when you are evaluating the players that are fulfilling their respective roles to determine whether you want to put down or adjust a wager. You won’t have long to make those decisions, so understanding who the best junglers are is a smart move.

That isn’t just knowing what esports player is great with a specific hero; but also how the actual hero plays in the game. There are continuous patches that change the mechanics of the game constantly; and what was great a month ago, may be completely different now.

Remember, if you want to make educated wagers than it is important that you keep up to date with patches and know the changes that impact the game. The players you had the most confidence in may no longer be as strong as they once were.

Live Betting

Live Betting
Live Betting

The first few exchanges could determine who will have the obvious advantage; and who is going to be king of the jungle. It becomes rather obvious if one player in the jungle decimates the other team’s designated person for that area and then proceeds to gank lanes. They are probably going to win.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean a team cannot recover; and overcome said obstacles; but when you are live betting, these are the clear indications that one team now has an advantage over another. Other bettors aren’t blind to this fact, and when people get killed, it’s obvious who has an advantage.

That is why it is important to know what heroes counter others in the jungle role so that you place your bet while the odds are the best. Most MOBA’s allow for specific heroes to get banned during the initial picking phase, like a jury selection.

Teams are looking to eliminate characters that are obviously extremely powerful in their roles, and as professionals, they know exactly who they want in or out. As esports bettors, we don’t need to know every detail of the games necessarily, but we want to understand tactics.

That is a key advantage that esports bettors can have in the scene, where those who bring their knowledge will have a leg up. The knowledge expands from in-depth game knowledge to specific player research.

Having a deep understanding of gameplay that a hero is capable of or how an individual player might handle a specific role can be huge. If the bettor understands that before the bookmakers, it can be an optimal time to put a bet in.

How to jungle in League of Legends?

How to jungle in League of Legends
How to jungle in League of Legends

Now that you have understood that Jungling involves sticking to the non-lane sections of the map to buff your team by killing neutral monsters, obtain gold and XP for both yourself and your team, and ambush enemy players in nearby lanes.

There are three main roles that a jungler has, each of which begets a different type of gameplay:

  • Ganking – Involves ambushing enemy laners and junglers to weaken them, deny gold and experience, and slow their advances. Works best when the opposing team uses a farming jungler.
  • Farming – Involves clearing as many monster camps as possible for the purpose of becoming a high-level character in the late part of the game. Works best when the opposing team uses a controlling jungler.
  • Controlling – Involves hunting and killing the other team’s junglers, providing resource denial and “control” of the jungle for your team. Works best when the opposing team uses a ganking jungler.

Now select jungle-oriented runes. The runes “Fleet Footwork”, “Predator”, “Nullifying Orb”, and “Guardian” all help your damage and defence against monsters in the jungle, as well as making your character better-suited to remaining in the jungle. Purchase items to complement your role and champion. From the store, you can buy items that increase your damage output, mana regeneration, and so on.

You can buy and use Wards that allow you to remove the fog of war from an area in which the ward is placed, allowing you to spot incoming enemy ambushes before the enemies can see you. Using wards when jungling will help both you and your team spot enemies, avoid ambushes, and plan counter-attacks.

Know which monsters to kill and start by taking on one of the red or blue monsters early in the game, as doing so will both buff you and afford you enough experience to level up. As you work your way up to higher-level monsters (and eventually the boss-level monsters, such as the dragon), you may want to request help from a laner.

As with any competitive online play, make sure that you’re talking to your team and assessing what they need from you. You may start in a strictly supportive role (e.g., a controlling jungle) but find that the enemy team plays more aggressively, leading you to adopt more of a gank role.

Tips to determine on what team you want to place your bet

Tips to determine on what team you want to place your bet
Tips to determine on what team you want to place your bet

There are a lot of important aspects to keep in mind when determining what team you want to place your bet on. No single role determines whether a team will win or lose and there is always the possibility of a great comeback if players find themselves at a disadvantage.

But the role of the jungle has a huge impact on the beginning portions of the game and can be the difference between a strong or weak lead. Being able to tell if a team has a strong jungle player can help make that difficult decision on who to wager on.

Note that bookmakers are learning about esports just as quickly as you are and because there are constant patches and changes to these games, they may fall behind at some points. If bookmakers fall behind on their updated knowledge, they may be slow on closing live betting.

Savvy Bettors have more chance

Savvy Bettors have more chance

The slower the bookmakers are in closing the live betting, the more opportunity there is for the savvy bettors to make a killing on some good wagers. Esports is like all other forms of gambling where one must strike when the right opportunity presents itself.

If you are on top of your game with adequate betting research, then you have a far better chance to notice that opportunity. Remember, figuring out why a team may have a leg up may be the difference between winning and losing your wager so always be alert in the game.

You can play against AI opponents to fine-tune your jungling and figure out the map routes that work best for you without playing against actual people.

Finally to take up a jungling in the game you need lots of practice.

About the author

Kamal Kaur