• Jungle

Jungle tracking is predicting where the enemy jungler is and what they will do next from the evidence they leave: where they started, what they have cleared, what you have seen. A good guess lets you counter-gank, invade the camps they left or warn your lanes before they arrive.

What it is

The enemy jungler spends most of the game in fog, so you cannot see them. But their actions leave marks. A camp they clear starts a respawn timer, a monster that changes target shows that someone is nearby, and the number of camps they have killed shows in their CS. Each clue narrows the options, and you update the guess every time you learn something new.

The game gives you more than people use. The first spawn of every non-epic camp is calculated automatically for both teams, since it is a game rule. After that, if your team had sight of a camp being cleared, its icon turns into a respawn timer. If you did not, you get a timer only when you gain sight of that camp shortly before it respawns: about sixty seconds before for Blue Sentinel and Red Brambleback, and ten seconds before for the other camps. Epic monster deaths are announced to both teams. With the scoreboard open, epic and buff timers show at the top of the screen, and you can show all camp timers on the minimap through the interface settings.

Monsters also attack the nearest champion whether or not they can see it, and a monster changing target can alert the team that someone is there. CS counts both minions and monsters, so a low CS on the enemy jungler after their first clear means they left camps behind. Reading this as a guess, not a fact, is the habit: you track probabilities and change them.

How to do it

  1. Start from their side

    At the start, you often cannot see the enemy jungler, so look at the first lane wave. If a laner on one side arrives late, they were probably helping with the first camp. Note the side you suspect, and replace it when the next gank, ward or sighting tells you more.

  2. Read their CS after the first clear

    Open the scoreboard after their first clear and look at the enemy jungler's CS. A low number means they cleared only part of their jungle, and the other camps are still there for you to counter-jungle.

  3. Write down every clear you see

    Whenever you see a camp cleared, note the time and the respawn. They will return for it, and that spot is a place you can ward or ambush. If you saw the clear, the minimap does the counting for you.

  4. Use the timers you did not see

    Move into sight of an enemy camp shortly before it respawns. Buff camps show a timer about a minute out, and the other camps in the last ten seconds. A live camp at that moment tells you they have not been there.

  5. Predict, then act

    Turn the guess into a plan. If you believe they started on one side and cleared around to a gank at about level three, hold your wards for the lane they reach first. If they are far away, invade the camps they left. If you cannot say which side they are on, treat both as dangerous.

  6. Update on every glance

    Every time you look at the minimap, ask where they were last seen and how long ago. The guess gets weaker with every second since the last sighting, so spend your next ward or sweep where it was strongest.

Watch it

What to watch for: From 14:48, the Jungle Tracking chapter of a current-season jungle guide.

Video: The ONLY JUNGLE Guide You'll EVER NEED - League of Legends — Skill Capped Challenger LoL Guides

Common mistakes

  • You make one guess and never change it. Replace it with every new clue, such as a ward, a timer or a lane wave arriving late.
  • You trust a guess you made five minutes ago. The older the last sighting is, the wider the area they could be in.
  • You ignore the scoreboard. It shows epic and buff timers and the enemy jungler's CS, which tells you how much they have cleared.
  • You look only at your own camps. Their respawn timers tell you where they will be next, and the camps they have not touched are the ones to take.
  • You warn your lanes with nothing but a ping. Tell them which lane you think is next and why, so that they ward the right spot.

Practice drill

  • For your next three games, say your guess for the enemy jungler's position aloud, or write it down, every time you check the minimap. Check the guess against the next sighting and count how often you were right.
  • At about four minutes, open the scoreboard, read the enemy jungler's CS and decide which side is still full. Then check by looking at that side.

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