Jungle Guide: Farmer Junglers

There are lots of different styles of junglers in LoL. Farmer Junglers are probably the least demanding in terms of mechanical skill. However, they demand a decent understanding of the game. Their play style is not flashy, but most certainly effective.

Who are the Farmer Junglers?

Champions that are in this class have some similar characteristics. Farmer Junglers are very good and fast at clearing the jungle camps. Their abilities enable them to outpace the enemy jungler and create experience gaps. They also scale very well into the late game, unlike some other early game junglers. They depend on map awareness and game knowledge more than mechanical skills. These champions are not hard to play mechanically, but you need a clear vision of your game plan. Karthus and Shyvana are great examples of this class. Both of them have very strong clears and scale well into the later stages of the game. However, they also have their weaknesses in the early game. They are unable to bring power to the early game skirmishes of the game. Take Elise and Karthus at level 3 for example, Elise has much better tools to gank a lane or win a 2v2 skirmish than Karthus. That’s why forcing early ganks is a really bad idea for these champions because if you get countered by Lee Sin, Elise, or Xin Zhao, it’s unlikely that you win the 2v2.

How to play ?

• Farm up. Farming is the most important aspect of their play style. Try to get as much cs as you can, but of course, it is not that simple. Your farming timing must be on point. You shouldn’t be farming your topside jungle when it is time for Drake. You should help your laners shove the waves, and steal some cs but don’t just go to their lanes to steal farm. This will demoralize your teammates from the game. Instead steal farm after a gank.
• Counter Jungle. A really important aspect of Farmer Junglers is counter-jungling. However, these champions are not great duelers. Going into a Rengar’s jungle as a Karthus is too dangerous. That is why you should always time your counter-jungling. For example, If you see the enemy jungler ganking bot lane, then you are free to enter his topside jungle and steal camps. Also, if your laners have priority in the lane you can utilize it to steal camps. Since they have priority in lane, they will be there to help you before the enemy laner is there to kill you.
• Don’t get demoralized in early game. Farmer junglers have a massive scaling advantage over most other junglers. So even if the enemy jungler manages to secure 2-3 kills from early ganks, if you can farm up enough to create an experience lead you always have a chance to get back to the game. Let’s take Elise and Karthus again; even if Elise manages to get lots of early game kills if they can’t manage to finish the game she will be pretty much useless after 25 mins. In the meantime, a farmed-up Karthus will bring a lot more value to the team even if he is 0/0/0 at 25 mins.
• Don’t ignore ganks. Just because you are supposed to farm don’t tunnel vision and ignore free kills. Always check your lanes and try to see if there are openings for you. Simply AFK farming can bring you to a certain ELO level, however, in higher MMR you will have to follow the gank and at least counter gank.

Wrap Up

If you implement these tricks in your game, you will definitely start performing better and climb up the rank ladder. Farming junglers are one of the ways to carry the game on your own so don’t forget all the tips!