An S grade is a system-generated grade given based on a player’s performance in that game. If you can meet the criteria set by Riot Games for your role, you are awarded an S grade. You need an S grade or above to upgrade your champion’s mastery. It is mainly focused on the number of farm laners have or the support’s vision score by the end of the game. For junglers though, the equation is not quite so simple.
We all know how difficult the jungler’s role is. From having to babysit their laners to acquiring the objectives before the enemy jungler. On top of that, you need to track the enemy jungler and keep up in gold and experience. This makes a jungler’s job extremely hectic but doing all these tasks effectively can also earn you an easy S grade or higher.
Junglers have the most impactful role early game. If a jungler is able to outplay the enemy jungler, it is usually ‘GG’ from there out. Taking objectives can give your teammates a team-wide boost while ganking lanes and killing the enemy laners allows your laner to snowball. Counter-Jungling and stealing the opponent’s jungle camps can also indirectly help your laners by making the enemy’s ganks ineffective.
If you’re a jungle main wondering how you can get an S grade with different champions, make sure to read ahead as I explain the dos and don’ts of jungling. Follow these tips to perfect your mechanics and rank up!
Champion Selection – The Playstyle You Prefer
Most laners have the luxury of a vast champion pool and still excel if they know the basic mechanics. As junglers impact the game much more, ganking lanes and taking objectives, you must know what your champion’s kit excels in. Needless to say, not everyone champion can thrive in the jungle meta. Let’s talk about the different playstyles, what they prioritize, and the champions that shine with that playstyle.
Gank-Heavy
Gank-heavy champions prioritize ganking lanes and setting your laners ahead over farming or taking objectives. Their skillsets mostly comprise dashes or movement speed boost abilities, heavy crowd control, area dispersion, and high amounts of burst damage. Champions like Rammus, Hecarim, Jarvan IV, Shaco, Vi, Lee Sin, and Nunu & Willump use this playstyle.
Prioritize Farm and Objectives
These champions are more inclined to farm up fast and hit their power spikes. Once they have unlocked their R or gotten certain items, they can take over games. This category includes Diana, Shyvana, Master Yi, Fiddlesticks, and Nocturne. They might seem like they are AFK farming until level 6 but trust them to have game-changing impacts later on.
One Vs One’rs
Champions that look for skirmishes in the jungle and excel in one vs one’s are placed here. They will look to invade and kill the enemy jungler whenever they have the chance. Champions with these skillsets are Xin Zhao, Viego, Volibear, Trundle, and Warwick. Their kits have high sustain and can often run an offensive summoner spell instead of flash (smite is a must for junglers).
Remember to try out different playstyles and see which one you like the most. Pick a few champions (or just one if you are a one-trick) and master it. That is the best way to get an S as a Jungler.
Farm, Farm, Farm!
We mentioned before that it is essential for laners to have a good creep score for an S grade but it can help as a jungler as well. The Riot Games algorithm has an average creep score for each lane in each rank division. If your creep score is above average, you are more likely to get an S grade or higher.
Farming kills and getting objectives is important as a jungler but do not forget to farm your own jungle camps. Not only do they provide you with experience and gold, but each time you kill a jungle camp, the experience and gold awarded are also increased. Besides that, it is the only way you will stay on par with the enemy jungler otherwise they will out scale you later on in the game. Understand the camp timers and time your clears to have a positive impact on the game. This should help you if you are gunning for that S grade.
Get Objectives – Herald, Drakes & All!
Objectives are essential parts of the game and can give your team significant stat boosts. As a jungler, it is your job to take down objectives before the enemy jungler. When taking down an objective, be it solo or with your team’s help, map control is essential. You should know where the enemy jungler is (and enemy laners if they leave lane).
Each objective will take down a portion of your health so make sure no one ambushes you while you are already half-health and your abilities are on cooldown. ALWAYS have smite available. Objective stealing is a big part of the game and smite really comes in handy in preventing those. Junglers with gank-heavy kits will take longer to take down objectives, opening up the potential for ambushes. This is why every jungler should know their limit and how long it will take them to kill the objective. As a jungler, if you have high objective damage, that counts a lot towards your end-game grade.
High Kill Participation
Kill participation is shown as a percentage on the post-match scoreboard. It shows how active you were on the map in terms of getting or helping with kills on enemy players. It is basically the total number of kills on your team divided by the sum of your kills and assists.
A high kill participation score means you may have set up or assisted in plays that lead to kills. This is important for each role but more so for junglers as they have the most mobile role of all. If a jungler is permanently AFK farming and not helping their laners, they have very low chances of getting an S grade. If you do not help your laners while the enemy jungler does, the enemy laners will easily snowball the game leading to a loss. This is why junglers must have high map awareness to gank and secure kills when the enemy laners are pushed up past the river. This will aid you in getting the S grade after the match.
Vision Score
Vision control plays a critical role in winning matches. The reason this responsibility lies heavily on the shoulders of junglers and supports is because of their roaming ability around the map.
Consistently placing wards around the map and getting vision on enemy champions is how you get a high vision score. Junglers can also rotate into the enemy jungle and get knowledge of the whereabouts of the enemy jungler. This helps in preventing successful ganks and can give you time to acquire objectives. Vice versa you can see if the enemy jungler is trying to take an objective if you have vision. This opens up the possibility of ambushing them or stealing the objective. This is the reason why a good vision score as a jungler can raise you to that above-average level in order to achieve an S grade.
Damage Distribution – Kill Stealer or Damage Dealer?
The damage distribution is a big part of Riot’s algorithm in calculating your grade. The damage graphs show how much damage you did to objectives and enemy champions, how much damage you received, and the amount of healing done to yourself and your teammates. It is an ideal way to show your impact in the game as nothing, kill or objective, can be secured without dealing damage.
For utility junglers such as Ivern or Sejuani, the damage statistics will be lesser. However, that will be compensated in healing done, damage taken, or crowd control score. One way or another, the graphs will balance themselves out and reward you with an S grade or higher if your gameplay justifies it.
Also check: What Are The Best Runes For Junglers In League Of Legends?
The Bottom Line
Jungling is not an easy role and the most common excuse for losing is ‘jgl diff’ or ‘jungle difference’. But if you know your mechanics and play around these factors, I assure you it will boost your grade and rank. You might get away with low farm or getting no objectives, but it will not secure you the S grade you want.
One thing you should remember is that your grading is done against players in the same rank division who played the same champion. If you think you cannot get an S with tank junglers because you do not have damage output, you think wrong. If you played better than the average Amumu for example, you will be rewarded the S grade even with low damage output. So pick your jungler, master their mechanics, and dominate Summoner’s Rift!
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