There are broken champions that can be stated in every role, but not all of these roles have a large impact on the macro play in a game. Next to the mid lane, the jungle role has the biggest reach and duty to impact the whole map.
Their primary duty as a jungler revolves around ganking and taking objectives outside the lane. Therefore, some of the most impactful champions can be found in the jungle.
Yet what junglers create the most impact in the game? What junglers seem to be able to do everything and anything? What junglers are the most broken in-game? Here we list down seven junglers we think are broken.
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7. Diana
Diana is an AP mage champion capable of one-shotting multiple enemies. Her abilities make her great for duels or skirmishes, and also for team fighting.
Her passive ability Moonsilver Blade buffs her auto attacks with attack speed and ability power bonus. This makes her clear jungle camps with considerable speed; this also applies for wave clearing when breaking freeze or shoving lanes.
Her area effective skills Q โ Crescent Strike and W โ Pale Cascade make her damage output even more painful both for single and multiple targets.
Crescent Strike lets her shoot an arc in a direction, damaging enemies hit by the skill. Pale Cascade works by giving her shield and damaging enemies surrounding her in melee range.
Her area effective skills do not end with Crescent Strike, and Pale Cascade. Her ultimate Moonfall knocks up enemies around her for follow-up attacks from herself or her teammates.
Yet all these require her to close the distance so good players would simply kite her, right? Not really, her E โ Lunar Rush allows her to dash to enemies hit by her skills.
Diana is a complete champion, capable of being a skirmisher and a team fighter. Her skills allow her to initiate, or finish off enemies.
6. Kindred
A mechanic in League of Legends that is highly debated as broken or not is infinite scaling. Champions like Kassadin, Veigar, Thresh, and Senna were at some point considered broken with how much value they gained from simply reaching the late game. Aside from the newly released champion BelโVeth, Kindred is another champion in the jungle that has this characteristic.
Kindred is a champion whose auto attack range and ability range of E โ Mounting Dread increases for every four stacks of their passive. The passive allows Kindred to scale with every fourth takedown on marked champions or monsters.
When left unchecked, Kindred is capable of bursting down or kiting champions from terrifyingly long distances as more stacks are infinitely gained in-game.
Weaving auto attacks with their Q โ Dance of Arrows, then dealing extra damage from both W โ Wolfโs Frenzy and Mounting Dread makes them a capable secondary Attack Damage Ranged Carry.
Their Dance of Arrows allows them to get across certain terrain which makes their jungle pathing and counter jungling threatening โ as it is supposed to be since their passive requires them to steal enemy jungle camps.
In times of emergency, Kindred may also use their ultimate โ Lambโs Respite to save themselves and their allies by making them immortal for a certain amount of time in an area. However, enemies inside the Kindredโs ultimate are also affected.
Creative plays can also be done through their skills. If an example is needed, here is an outplay by Xmithie against Royal Never Give Up (RNG) in the 2016 Midseason Invitational.
5. Wukong
One of the oldest champions in League of Legends that has found himself in and out of meta is Wukong, the Monkey King. Wukong is a champion commonly played in the top lane and jungle. His kit is flexible enough to be built into an assassin, bruiser, or tank.
His ability Q โ Crushing Blow allows him and his clone to deal damage and reduce the armor of the target. Building enough attack damage items can make this skill be used for assassinations. If not, it is still significant enough because of the armor reduction it applies.
Wukong is a mobile champion since he has dashes in his W โ Warrior Trickster and E โ Nimbus Strike that can close distances or get across terrains.
Warrior Trickster makes him dash in a direction, grants temporary invisibility, and places a stationary clone in his initial spot while Warrior Trickster can be used offensively for repositioning and dealing extra damage.
Additionally, the clone also replicates abilities and basic attacks dealt for the duration it is present. Defensively, it can be used to run away and deceive the enemy.
Nimbus Strike is mainly used for dashing and damaging an enemy. Yet much like Yasuo with his Sweeping Blade or Master Yi with his Alpha Strike, running away from an enemy or getting across terrain is also possible.
Finally, the ultimate โ Cyclone knocks up enemies around him once and deals continuous damage to his surroundings. A clone left behind will also cast this spell which effectively extends the abilityโs range of effect and the second cast gives him two opportunities to knock up enemies.
The abilities and stats Wukong has made him flexible enough to fit almost any team composition. His abilities are never useless and will always provide aid to his teammates as an initiator, duelist, or assassin.
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4. Hecarim
Hecarim is a broken jungler due to his low skill floor that allows even the players who do not play jungle to have an easier time getting around the role.
For damaging and clearing jungle minions, Hecarim has area affecting skills Q โ Rampage and W โ Spirit of Dread. For mobility and ganking, his abilities E โ Devastating Charge, R โ Onslaught of Shadows, and passive ability โ Warpath grants him a movement speed bonus and dashes to get across maps or close the distance from an enemy.
Bad laners will automatically get caught and be vulnerable to his ganks, while bad jungle players will fall behind in farm and ganks.
Hecarim also has great adaptability with his keystone and itemization. Going Fleet Footwork, Phase Rush, or Predator have good synergy with his mobility. Conqueror and First Strike are great if the focus is on damage โ burst or accumulating.
Itemization may go for tank, assassin, or bruiser theme. Lots of Mythic items also synergize well with Hecarim some of which are Divine Sunderer, Trinity Force, Eclipse, and even Turbo Chemtank.
The win rate of this champion may drop low as the skill of play increases. Yet it must be noted that statistics do not provide the whole story, Hecarim is still a viable champ in higher ranks. For lower ranks? Hecarim is strong enough to be considered broken.
3. Master Yi
Master Yi is one of the most basic champions in the game. The low skill level required to successfully play this champion does not make him broken, rather his reliance on being a โstat checkโ champion does.
A stat check champion is simply a character that intends to overwhelm you with their sheer advantage in stat values further strengthened by items and abilities, such as Master Yi.
His Q โ Alpha Strike allows him to hit multiple enemies while closing the distance between them. This also makes him untargetable for a moment and its cooldown reduces by one second with each basic attack he does.
The W โ Meditate heals him and his E โ Wuju Style adds bonus true damage to his auto attacks. Finally, his ultimate โ Highlander gives him movement speed and attack speed bonus while making him immune to slows and minion collision.
Simple right? Yes, but that is exactly what makes him hard to go against and balance. Lots of adjustments have been made to Master Yi because his skills are very simple.
Changing number values in his stats โ even the most minuscule amount โ will immediately affect his damage output.
With enough attack speed, he can constantly be untargetable while dealing burst damage. Tanks do not faze him once he gets enough items to either deal significant true damage or health percent damage with items like Kraken Slayer and Blade of the Ruined King.
Master Yi is also broken with specific playstyles centering on him such as the funnel strategy which has many variations (e.g. Taric or Yuumi).
2. Trundle
Another champion that completely melts enemies regardless if they are tanks or not is Trundle.
Trundle excels in skirmishes and singling out enemies. His ganking ability is immensely powerful in the early to mid-game while having little drop-off in power in the late game.
All of his abilities apply a form of crowd control through slows or interrupts. His Q โ Chomp deals bonus damage in his next auto attack and slows down enemies by 75%, his W โ Frozen Domain buffs his movement speed, and E โ Pillar of Ice knocks up enemies directly hit as well as slows enemies surrounding the pillar.
His resistance stats and passive ability โ Kingโs Tribute allow him to heal up along with the healing buff from Frozen Domain. In duels and skirmishes, Trundle will most likely come out on top every single time.
The final nail in the coffin for enemies fighting Trundle is his ultimate ability Subjugate. Using this on an enemy lets Trundle steal 40% of their armor and magic resistance as well as a percentage of their health.
In team fights, his basic abilities are enough to make enemies avoid him but his ultimate greatly weakens a singled-out enemy for everyone in his team to pile on. The singled-out enemy is forced to run away, force a fight, or simply accept their fate.
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1. Viego
Finally, arguably one of the most balanced but just equally broken champions in league of Legends, Viego.
Viego is a bruiser champion who is capable of beating down enemies in a duel but is vulnerable in situations outside of dueling. His melee range limits his attacking capabilities but every strong point he has in his kit more than makes up for it.
His abilities do not cost any resources so each cooldown timer of his skills is the only โresourceโ players have to take note of. Even with this, his basic abilities all have relatively low cooldowns.
Viegoโs Q ability โ Blade of the Ruined King allows him to deal casting damage, weave his auto attack, and apply a mark that makes Viegoโs basic attack deal extra damage to the marked enemy.
The W ability โ Spectral Maw stuns an enemy and also applies the same mark as his Q. His E ability โ Harrowed Path allows him to create an area where he becomes camouflaged and gains bonus attack speed.
When played correctly, Viego can deal burst damage with the right timing and combination of ability and auto attack. During duels, extended trades also make use of the weaved attacks from the combination of low cooldown abilities and basic attacks.
If these are not enough, his ultimate โ Heartbreaker blinks him to a target location and damages all enemies hit by this skill. Enemies hit in the outer area of the ultimate are instead knocked back.
Yet this is still not the end to his already strong set of abilities. His passive Sovereign Domination allows him to temporarily play as champions he has recently taken down. During the time he is possessing another champion, he can use their abilities with only Viegoโs ultimate staying the same.
The cooldown of his ultimate also resets when he possesses champions so, in the right moment, he may use his ultimate in continuous successions.
His itemization is rather limited to only three or two depending on the situation, but this is more than enough to adapt to the situation if he gets what we may call the Viego moment โ a moment in a team fight where consecutive possessions and ultimate ability cast are made from which comeback or snowball opportunity presents itself in return.
If you need visualization of this, here is a link from LCS showing exactly what a Viego moment is.
Conclusion
Jungle is a role decided by ganking, farming, and timing of opportunities.
Champions that can force their playstyle or timing are broken when not countered properly; these are champions such as Kindred, Master Yi, and Trundle. Some champions are capable of adapting to any situation and do not seem to fall off in any aspect choosing one playstyle over the other; these are Diana, Wukong, and Hecarim.
Yet there are champions that just cannot be put down, and walk a path on their own. In the jungle, that is the one and only Viego.
Not everyone can master every champion in League of Legends, and not everyone can play every playstyle there is in the game. However, the game gives you hundreds of champions to choose from.
The most important thing in winning is making the right calls and playing the most efficient way your skill level and abilities let you. Some of these champions require skill to pull off, but there are some that do not need that much skill.
So choose according to your strength and play off of it. The right player with the right mindset can make any champion seem broken.