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Jungler is arguably one of the most important roles in League of Legends. However, the game often introduces changes to the jungle, and players are forced to adjust to the same.
During season 12, League of Legends did not make many changes to the jungle. Nevertheless, the change they did introduce completely altered the dynamics of how jungle is supposed to work.
It changed the clearing route, pathing, and ganking fundamentals quite a lot. In the next few sections, a detailed analysis will be done on the change and how players can change their pathing for the most optimal gains.
League of Legends season 12 encourages full clear, but it is not the most optimal
Before understanding jungle pathing in season 12, it is important to present an overview of how jungle worked during League of Legends' season 11. During season 11, jungle pathing primarily revolved around the route of blue buff, gromp, wolves, raptor, red buff, and finally, the scuttle crab.
This allowed League of Legends players to have an easy level 4. Full clear was never an option as the krugs are quite hard to kill at an early level and take up a lot of time. In fact, the only players who did do a full clear had a specific champion who could finish it sub 3 minutes 15 seconds.
This is because the scuttle crab spawned at 3 minutes and 15 seconds. However, that was something that only a handful of champions could manage. Therefore, the five camps clear and then the scuttle crab was the meta.
However, in League of Legends season 12, the above meta has changed completely. This is because the amount of experience that the scuttle crab gives now has been reduced by 80%. This means that the 5 camp clear and the scuttle crab kill now keeps players stuck at level 3.
Jungle pathing during League of Legends season 12
Thus, since the skuttle crab experience gain has been nerfed, this raises the question of the most optimal pathing. Obviously, the first thing that comes to the mind of the players will be a full clear.
There is no doubt that season 12 is pushing players towards getting a full clear and then ganking lanes. However, it is not that simple. This is because, as mentioned previously, krugs are way too slow to kill in League of Legends.
Therefore, a full clear will take a lot of time which will mean that the time it takes for the jungler to impact the map is delayed. However, the 3 camp, 4 camp or 5 camp clears leaves the player at level 3.
Then it brings up the question of what to do, if not a full clear. In order to understand this, an example needs to be considered.
Suppose an ally Lee Sin does Blue buff, gromp, wolves, and then red buff. As everyone knows, Lee Sin will be level 3 at this point. But now Lee Sin can potentially gank a lane instead of trying to go for the full clear.
If Lee Sin sees an off-position laner, then he can try to push for a kill. Suppose Lee Sin does get a kill and soaks up a bit of lane experience. Now Lee Sin can go back to the jungle, kill the krugs and get to level 4.
However, suppose in the same game, the enemy jungler manages to get a full clear. The enemy will obviously hit level 4 as well.
But, here is the difference. Lee Sin managed to read the map well and leach experience off a gank, and hit level 4. Instead, the enemy jungler did a full clear to reach the same level.
Therefore, the point of this example is to showcase that full clear is obviously the best option. However, if players do decide not to get a full clear, then they have to find a different route to circumvent that experience. This means ganking a lane and getting kills.
This is because the whole idea of ganking to gain level 4 might not always work. It is possible that a player might try to gank after a 4 clear, but get nothing. However, if the enemy did get the full clear, then they would be at a level advantage and gain the upper hand.
Summary
In summary, jungle pathing in League of Legends season 12 will rely even more on map reading ability. Players will need to have way more awareness and understand what route to follow.
Ideally, the first option will be blue buff, gromp, wolves, raptor, red buff, and gank. The second option will be red buff, raptors, gromp, blue buff, and gank.
If they simply try to follow a full clear every game, they will never be able to outsmart the enemy jungler. They will always need to look for opportunities in lanes to get kills and experience.
However, if they feel that it does not exist, then full clear is the most viable option for League of Legends season 12.
Note: The article reflects the writer's own views.
