Jungle is one of the most impactful roles in all of League of Legends. Because of this, most players will opt to play carry Champions to get fed and run the map. However, you do not need to be the carry to carry games in the Jungle.
You can carry games just as hard by playing Champions that have the utility to peel their carries, engage in fights, and overall take on the Support role during team fights. Some Junglers even prefer taking on the role of Support because it alleviates the mechanical pressure of carrying fights. They can rely on their gigantic 5head instead of their rusty, old fingers.
Of course, one of the significant downsides to Support Junglers is that they will not be able to carry games solo and rely on having at least one competent teammate. If they get the wrong person fed, and that person is a thrower, then it’s GG. However, these are lessons we learn as we play. Figuring out which Champions need help, which lanes to play around, etc., are all part of the fun of mastering the Jungle.
Now that we covered the pros and cons of playing Support Junglers let’s talk about how I define a Support Jungler. Since there really are no true “Supports” in the Jungler, I’m just going to look at Champions that you’d expect to stack assists on.
The Champions that will perform about the same, whether they get one kill or 100 kills, are most likely Support Junglers. These Champions will spend the game either peeling their carries or trying to find fantastic engages. They’ll want to give up kills whenever possible during ganks because their laner will put the gold to much better use.
So, these are not Champions that will 1v5, but they will 2v5 with their fed carry. Now that we’ve covered that, let’s rock:
7. Rammus
Rammus is the rolling hedgehog that haunts every AD Champion’s dreams. His taunt is extremely useful for peeling, engaging, and getting picks. He’s one of the tankiest Champs in the game and is an overall nuisance to play against.
Rammus shines as a Support Jungler because he will wind up being a tanky little rolly polly whether he gets fed or not. This means he can give away every single kill and come out just fine. If he does manage to get fed, it will be that much worse for the enemy carries because he’ll be able to act as aggressively as he’d like.
Rammus’s main weakness is that he doesn’t have much beyond his taunt. However, he doesn’t need much more because his taunt is so strong that he can carry fights as long as he uses it well and on the correct targets. Just be on the lookout for QSS, and try to wait for their cooldown before going all in.
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6. Gragas
The big bad barrel bursting berzerker himself. Gragas is one of my favorite Champions, in general, and I mained him exclusively for about a year during season 4 or 5. Gragas is one of those Champions that can live through insane amounts of damage and somehow come out on top in the fight.
He’s a Support Champion because he’s tanky and will spend most of his time peeling his carries. He can use his ultimate to displace carries and pick off enemy Champions when they’re out of position, but he won’t be bursting many people down in modern League of Legends.
Gragas is a bit under-tuned at the moment.
Low damage, a bit of an underwhelming kit, and there are just better options. Amumu, for example, does what Gragas does, but better. With that being said, Gragas is still fun and can control the map with his big belly ganks.
5. Hecarim
Yeah yeah, I’m reaching a bit with Hecarim, I know. Hecarim can be a full carry Champion. He can ult in and one-shot the ADC with his E when he’s fed. However, if Hecarim isn’t fed, he needs to take on a more supportive role. He should use his E and R to peel his carries or try to fear the entire team.
Hecarim players need to decide based on their team if they will play as a diving horse or a peel horse. If you have a scaling ADC with very little escapes, like Jinx, you’re going to want to get her fed and peel for her. On the other hand, if you’ve already gotten a few kills on you, you might as well build damage and carry the game.
Also read: What Does Overextending Mean in League of Legends?
4. Udyr
Udyr is just like Hecarim. You’re either going to be diving enemy carries or peeling yours. Udyr has the added benefit of being able to split push and control the map with his lane and Jungle pressure. He is one of the fastest, hardest-to-kill Champions in the game, so if you can’t play with your team, you have many more options than other Champions.
There are better Support Junglers than Udyr because he can only stun someone briefly with his E. The upside is that he’s able to stun them again a few seconds later. However, he’s better used as a split pusher or DPS Champion. If you play Udyr, you have to change your style every game to benefit your team the most.
3. Sejuani
Sejuani’s Ultimate is a game-changer. She is also fantastic at ganking. She can apply so much map pressure during the laning phase and then win team fights with well-timed engagements. She is so good at playing the Support role because she doesn’t need kills or gold to pop off.
A good Sejuani will impact the game whether she’s 10/0 or 0/10.
Most of the time, Sejuani wants to look for massive Ults and then turn to peel their own carries. There will be games on occasion where Sejuani can 1v2 an ADC and their Support, but most of the time, that power won’t last all game, and she’ll have to transition to peeling eventually.
2. Jarvan IV
J4 is one of those Champs that sits there and pretends to be a carry when in reality, we all know he’s a Support. When I take Jarvan to the Jungle, I always find myself netting over 20 assists and maybe one or two kills. His E gives his team an attack speed buff. His W slows enemies. He can knock up enemies to peel and use his ultimate to lock down the whole enemy team.
Jarvan can be very fun when built as a bruiser or glass cannon, but it is much harder to win consistently with a build like that. You’ll have to end games very fast. Otherwise, you’ll wind up jumping to your imminent death more often than not.
Building J4 as a tank and taking on the support role of peeling for your ADC and Mid laner is much easier and will yield better results in the long run. You can gank thousands of times during the laning phase and rely on your macro skills to win every game. The downside is that your damage will fall off, so you’re going to need to rely on teammates to carry you once you hit the mid-late game.
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1. Morgana
Finally, a real Support! This latest season has seen many Morganas in the Jungle, and I’m not sure what sparked this trend, but I’m all for it. Off-Meta picks keep the game fun, and they show us that the game isn’t solved just yet.
The hardest part of Morgana Jungle is probably learning how to efficiently clear, but everything else is pretty fundamental once you get that down. You gank with your Q until you’re level 6, and then you smash enemies with giant Ultimates. Use your E to cancel important enemy Ults like Ashe’s or Amumu’s. If you like playing Morgana Support or Mid, then you’re going to have a very easy time playing her in the Jungle.
