How to Counter Invading Junglers In League of Legends?

From time to time Junglers can be a little too aggressive in League and this could lead to invades done by the enemy jungle. These invades can lead to some serious problems for your team hence countering these invades is a must if you want to win the game.

The best way to counter invading junglers in league is to ward off your jungle. This allows you to have better control over the map and let your team member rotate to stop the enemy jungler from counter jungling. Moreover, you can also gank other lanes or invade the enemy jungle to create pressure on the enemy jungler.

Countering the invading jungler can be a little more complex than it seems due to the different play styles each jungler has. For example, champions like Kayn and Lillia who are experts at stealing raptors can’t be dealt with the same way you will deal with another champion.

With that said, we know countering the invading jungler can be a real pain. Especially against champions like Kayn whose kit encourages them to go for invades. Therefore, to help you out we have written this guide today.

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Sharpening your map awareness

Having good map awareness will not only improve your jungling skills, but it will also improve your mastery of every single aspect of the game. One of the biggest differences between higher ELO players, in general, is how many times they check the map of a game. A jungler with poor map awareness in League is basically a sitting duck for the enemy jungler.

This lack of map awareness can cause a multitude of problems for the team, including not being able to spot the enemy jungler, not being ready for counter ganks, and being unable to make good use of ganking opportunities.

Good map awareness lets you pull off more successful ganks than usual, thereby allowing you to have more time for exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses, as long as you know the locations where the map is warded. For example, you can adjust your gank paths to avoid vision. This will not only increase your KDA, but it will also increase your gold income, your XP, and your ability to carry the game.

If you can make full use of your good map awareness, you can get lots of successful ganks off as well as ensure that the enemy jungler’s gank fails. By pinging the map, you can warn your team where the enemy jungler is so they have a higher chance of survival against that well-informed gank.

Providing Vision

Providing vision as the jungler is very important to successfully spot the enemy jungler. Pink wards in river bushes are one way to show where the enemy jungle is. Similarly, you can use stealth wards and blue trinkets as well.

By providing vision on the map you will be able to counter invading junglers as you will be able to see them entering your jungle. Your team can use this information to collapse on the invading enemy. Moreover, the vision will also allow you to counter jungle the enemy by letting you invade their jungle instead.

Lastly, spotting the enemy jungler when he is invading or passing through the river is also a great way of preventing invaders or ganks. You can do this by either putting wards over the river or taking the scuttle. Also, remember to buy a Control Ward or a sweeper to make sure that the enemy jungler doesn’t have any vision of your jungle camps.

Taking Camps

The most obvious way of preventing counter jungling is by taking your buffs and camps whenever they are up. This will mean that the enemy will be wasting their time trying to take or steal buffs that are not there.

This will also put them behind as they have taken the time to come into our jungle. Moreover, you will also be able to collapse on your enemy while they are looking for your camps. Once you improve in ranking and learn more about the game you will notice small signs which will help you better understand the enemy jungler’s psych.

Ganking and Counter Ganking

Ganking and counter ganking is part and parcel of jungling and the Jungle role. If you do not gank early, the enemy is going to get their team ahead with the help of a successful gank.

Every jungler can gank early- it’s a myth that they can’t. While it’s true that some junglers require their Ultimate to gank such as Shyvana, Master Yi, or sometimes even Olaf, they do have parts of their kit that allow them to gank early.

Finding a healthy balance between farming your jungle and ganking is key to coming out ahead. Even gank-heavy junglers like Lee Sin need to farm or they’ll fall behind. And while Sejuani or Yi needs their level 6 to truly make an impact, if you see an opportunity to gank- it’s probably worth taking it.

Ganking Lanes to Create Pressure

Ganking enemy lanes is the best way to stop the enemy jungler from invading your jungle. When you start camping the enemy laners it ends up creating pressure on the jungler as well. This pressure can end up stopping the jungler from invading and instead prioritize you as their target.

However, be careful while going in for ganks as this technique can act as a double-edged sword and can end up losing you the lane. With that said, if you are able to get a few successful ganks in the enemy jungler will be forced to leave your jungle away.

Baiting the Enemy Jungler

In the events, where you know that the enemy jungler is not going to stop invading, you can go for a cheeky bush kill. You can use one of your camps to lure the enemy jungler in and then wait it out. You need to now wait for the perfect opportunity to all-in and take the enemy jungler.

The best time to take the enemy jungler down is when they use all their abilities. So the moment you see the enemy jungler using their abilities, you need to all in for the kill. However, if you are having trouble soloing the enemy jungler you can always ask for help from your laners.

Optimize your ward control

Warding is not just important for beating the enemy jungler, it is important in all aspects of gameplay. Having the ability to see the whereabouts of your enemies at any given time can make all the difference. This is because; if you have good map awareness, you should neither get caught out by ganks nor should you die if the jungler decides to pay a visit to your lane.

Counter Jungle Your Enemy Instead

There are several strategies that a jungler can use to stay one step ahead of their opponent. Firstly, players must know the most efficient way to clear the camps they are counter jungling. Next, you will want to leave only one minion behind so that the camp won’t be able to respawn without the enemy jungler resetting the respawn timer.

Farming junglers like Olaf require as much gold and experience as they can get in a short period of time if they want to stay ahead. So, by counter jungling and leaving one small monster up, they are forced to waste their time to clear that one small monster.

Also check: How to Carry a Losing Team as a Support?

Conclusion

Invading Junglers can be a serious problem, but there are ways to counter them. By setting up traps, taking away their farm, and stealing their buffs, you can make it much harder for them to succeed. If you’re having trouble dealing with an invading Jungler, communicate with your team and follow the steps mentioned above.

Lastly, we hope by following this guide, you will be able to deal with your little jungler problem.

Check out more of our useful tips and tricks, like this one on how to carry as a jungler.