Beginner's Guide: How to Jungle in League of Legends?
The jungler in League of Legends often seems intimidating to new players. It’s a position that demands map awareness, fast decision-making, and team coordination, all while staying ahead of the enemy jungler. Unlike laners who focus on a single lane, junglers influence the entire map, juggling responsibilities like farming camps, helping struggling allies, tracking objectives, placing vision, and countering enemy movement.
Despite its complexity, jungle is one of the most impactful and accessible roles for beginners to learn. Once you understand a few key mechanics, it becomes a powerful position that lets you control the pace of the game.
This guide covers the essentials to help you pick the right champions, understand jungle pets, follow efficient clear routes, execute effective ganks, and secure objectives. If you're new to the jungle or want to refine your skills, this guide provides everything you need to succeed as a Jungler in League of Legends.
Choosing a Beginner-Friendly Jungle Champion
Your first step is selecting a champion that matches your comfort level and playstyle. While it's important to enjoy who you're playing, some champions offer an easier learning curve and stronger performance in low to mid ranks.
Here are three great beginner jungle picks:
Sejuani: A tank with excellent gank potential and teamfight utility. Sejuani’s Q and passive make her durable, while her E and ultimate provide powerful crowd control. Her synergy with melee teammates and easy-to-land CC make her a reliable pick for new junglers looking to make a consistent impact.
Amumu: A classic tank jungler with strong area-of-effect damage and crowd control. Amumu clears camps safely, and his ultimate can swing teamfights decisively. His ganks are reliable thanks to his Q (bandage toss) and AoE lockdown. He’s also one of the few tanks who can carry in solo queue.
Nocturne: Perfect if you prefer an assassin playstyle. Nocturne’s ultimate allows him to dive onto isolated targets from far away, making him great for punishing overextended enemies. His clear speed is fast, and his fear mechanic helps control early skirmishes.
Warwick: A strong duelist and sustain-focused jungler. Warwick’s passive heals him during fights, and his W gives him bonus movement speed toward low-health enemies, making him ideal for tracking and chasing. His ultimate is a point-and-click suppression that makes ganking straightforward and reliable.
Master Yi: A high-damage scaling jungler with one of the simplest kits in the game. Yi clears jungle camps quickly and thrives in lower ranks where coordination is lower. While he lacks crowd control, his damage and cleanup potential in fights make him a strong carry option for beginners focused on farming and teamfighting.
Also Read: League of Legends: 5 Best Jungle Tips
Understanding Jungle Pets in League of Legends
Jungle pets are companions you purchase as a starter item at the beginning of the game. These pets make jungle clearing smoother and provide bonus effects that scale with time and interaction.
There are three pets to choose from, each offering different benefits:
Green Pet (Mosstomper): Grants you a shield after being out of combat, making you tankier in fights and skirmishes.
Blue Pet (Gustwalker): Boosts your movement speed when entering brush or after killing camps, ideal for mobility and quick rotations.
Red Pet (Scorchclaw): Adds burn damage and a slow effect to your attacks, improving your damage during fights and ganks.
The pet automatically attacks and helps you clear camps, so you don’t have to micromanage it. Just focus on pathing and Smite usage, and the pet will do much of the heavy lifting in the early game.
How to Clear Jungle Camps Efficiently in LoL?
Efficient jungle clears are the foundation of a good early game. You want to minimize the damage you take while keeping a fast tempo, so you can be ready to gank, invade, or secure early objectives without falling behind.
To start, always focus on the large monster in each camp. It’s the one that gives the most experience and poses the biggest threat. Let your jungle pet help clean up the smaller monsters while you concentrate on the big one. This speeds up your clear and reduces the effort required.
While clearing, use a technique called kiting. This involves moving between your attacks to slightly pull the monsters toward your next camp. Not only does this save time when transitioning, but it also helps you avoid taking too much damage. Just be sure to stay within the leash range to prevent the camp from resetting.
Be extra cautious with the raptor camp early in the game. It spawns several small monsters that can quickly chip away at your health, especially if you're playing a champion with a weaker early clear. If needed, either skip this camp on your first route or focus on eliminating the small raptors first to reduce the incoming damage.
Also Read: Five Types of LoL Players You'll Encounter in Solo Queue
League of Legends: Jungle Pathing for Beginners
A well-planned jungle route helps you reach level 3 efficiently and sets you up for early ganks or objectives. Here’s a simple and reliable path for beginner junglers in League of Legends:
Start at either Red Buff or Blue Buff —whichever side has your stronger leash.
Clear the rest of the camps in that quadrant (typically Gromp and Wolves if you started Blue or Krugs and Raptors if you started Red).
Move to the opposite quadrant and clear the remaining camps.
Around 3:30, head to the river to contest or secure the Scuttle Crab.
This full clear route (six camps) gets you to level 4 and gives you options for a gank, recall, or early objective.
Key Concept of Jungling: Time Efficiency
Using your time well is the most important skill for any jungler. After your first clear, there’s no set path to follow, so wasting time walking around without a goal can quickly put you behind.
To stay efficient, track your camp respawns. Jungle camps come back two minutes after being cleared, so plan your movement around when they’ll be available. Always head toward your next farm opportunity before it spawns.
Avoid ganking just for the sake of it. Only go in if the lane setup looks good—otherwise, keep farming. It's better to gain gold and experience consistently than to risk a failed play that slows you down.
Every action should have a purpose. When you’re leaving base or finishing a gank, always ask yourself, “What’s next?” Maintaining that mindset keeps you productive and gives you an edge over the enemy jungler.
Also Read: League of Legends: Top 15 Champions for Beginners in 2025
Tips for Securing Objectives in League of Legends
Objectives like dragons, Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor are win conditions for your team. A jungler’s role is critical in securing these safely. Here are tips for securing early objectives:
Take Early Dragons and Grubs: If your bot lane has priority or the enemy jungler is top, you can sneak an early dragon. The same applies to Void Grubs on the top side.
Use Priority: If your laners are pushing and have lane control, it’s much easier to take objectives safely.
Smite Smart: Smite has two charges. Use one for healing during your jungle clear, and save the other for objective fights.
Watch the Map: If the enemy jungler shows top, that’s your cue to start a bottom-side objective, and vice versa.
Understanding When and Where to Gank?
Ganking is one of the most powerful tools you have as a jungler, but it needs to be well-timed. A failed gank wastes time and puts you behind, so knowing when and where to strike is key.
Start by looking for lanes with crowd control or high burst damage. Melee matchups often lead to extended trades, giving you a better window to join and turn the fight. Lane position matters too, avoid ganking if your ally is stuck under the turret. Instead, look for lanes pushing forward or frozen in the middle, where follow-ups are easier.
The way you approach the lane also makes a difference. Flanking from behind or entering through lane bushes gives you better angles to cut off escape routes. Coming straight from the river is common, but not always the most effective.
After a gank, take note if the enemy used Flash or any other summoner spell. This opens up a return gank within five minutes while it’s on cooldown. Use the ping system to time summoners (like “Enemy Flash – 10:30”) so you and your team can follow up and secure kills later.
Also Read: What is Counter Jungle in League of Legends?
Invading the Jungle for Beginners in League
Invading the enemy jungle can be rewarding, but it's high-risk and requires experience. You need strong map awareness, knowledge of enemy pathing, and confidence in 1v1 matchups. If you’re new to jungle, focus on farming your own camps efficiently and tracking the enemy jungler’s position. You can start invading later once you're more comfortable with timers and vision control.
Conclusion
Jungling in League of Legends might look overwhelming, but once you understand the basics it becomes one of the most powerful roles in the game. By starting with beginner-friendly champions, mastering time-efficient decisions, and applying solid fundamentals, you’ll quickly grow into a reliable jungler who can carry games. Stick to the core principles, and with practice, you’ll develop the confidence and map awareness needed to take control of every match from the jungle.
“ GameBoost - Kristina joined GameBoost in 2024 as an SEO specialist and quickly became the go-to writer for third-person shooter and competitive games. She covers titles like Fortnite, Valorant, FC 25, League of Legends, GTA 5, and Roblox, focusing on how-to guides, practical tips, and updates.”
