Ever since the dawn of League of Legends there has been one question that has eluded players,
why is it, despite each server playing the exact same game, on the exact same patch,
does each server have its own unique meta and playstyle?
You would think with enough time, and especially with how connected we are globally through
the internet, that each server would eventually come to play the exact same way: what ever
is the most effective strategy for winning games, and yet, that's never happened.
To this day there's still key differences between each server's meta.
Korean solo queue is known for it's fast pace aggressive style.
European solo queue is known for being slower than Korea, but still aggressive with top
tier mechanics.
And North American solo queue is known for, well, being a worse version of Europe.
But in all seriousness, this has got us thinking, just how different is each server and what
exactly do they have in common?
Well, as we do here at skill-capped, we set out to answer this question through research,
analysis, and consulting with the top players.
First, let's establish a few facts as there's a lot of misinformation about this topic.
To start, there's the populations of active ranked for each server.
Let's take a look at the population in 2018.
We can see both Korea and Europe West close to each other near 2 Million active ranked
players.
North America is trailing with nearly half the population at 1.2 million.
Hold on though, these stats are just from 2018.
I'm sure the game's playerbase has grown a lot since then and NA has caught up.
Oh boy.
These stats are from 2020 and you can see that the game has in fact grown a lot, but
out of the 3 major regions, NA actually grew the least.
And this fact is why it's typically agreed upon that, in order, the 3 best major servers
are Korea, Europe West, and North America.
The logic being, the more players, the tougher the competition, and that results in better
players overall.
And you would think we could just wrap things up there, but it still doesn't answer a nagging
question: if server size is so important and Korea and EU West are similar in size, why
are there clearly different metas in each server?
For example, check this out.
Let's say you were playing in Korea and your team destroyed the first tower.
You would have around a 73.6% chance of winning the game.
Same game, same scenario, but in Europe West, suddenly your chance of winning drops by 3%.
In fact, NA servers have way more in common with Europe when it comes to your chances
of winning after getting an early lead than with Korea, despite having half the player
size.
Now, I know what you're thinking, everyone knows in Korea when they fall behind they
will just afk and open mid, and that's what's artificially inflating your chances of winning.
Actually no, Korea has the lowest percentage of games with AFK players in them by a significant
amount.
Depending on what rank you're in, both Europe and North America beat Korea by a large margin
in terms of AFKs in game.
So, here's the secret that puts it all together.
Korea actually has the highest surrender rate of the 3 major regions.
In Europe and NA, if the game's going bad and surrender votes go down, we have a tendency
to vote no and hold the game hostage.
In Korea, they just move next.
And this is reflective in the average game length.
In games that include surrenders, the average game length is at least 2 minutes shorter
in Korea.
And even without surrenders, the game length is still around 2 minutes shorter in Korea.
So what does all of this mean?
Server size has a strong correlation to the average skill level and is why we'll be focusing
our analysis on the three biggest regions: Korea, Europe West, and North America.
However, server population isn't everything.
Europe actually has more in common with North America than it does Korea, in terms of playstyle,
despite being closer to Korea in server size.
And that's exactly why we decided to make this guide.
If we do an analysis on a top Korean or European player we often see comments saying "this
strategy won't work on my server" and in some cases, this can actually be true, or at least,
be a legitimate concern.
This is why, in this video, we'll be taking the rank 1 jungler from each major region
and finding out what kind of strategies and tactics they have in common that let them
climb the ranks so effectively.
So let's introduce you to these junglers we'll be learning from.
In Korea, the current rank 1 jungler is the pro player JunJia of Edward Gaming.
In Europe it's the pro player Razork of Misfits Gaming.
And in North America it's the pro player Armao of Team Liquid.
When you put the op.gg profiles of these three junglers next to each other, something really
interesting jumps out.
They really don't play the same champions.
In addition to this, if you compare their champions played from this entire season to
the last 30 days of active play, you also see a drastic shift in champion pools.
For example, in North America, out of Armao's top 7 champions played this season, he's really
only actively playing Diana this past month, with him switching to a lot more Lee Sin,
Viego, and Xin Zhao.
In Europe West we see the same thing with Razork.
He completely dropped Graves, Nidalee, Ekko, and Kindred.
Instead, we see him adding similar champions to his pool such as Diana, Lee Sin, Viego,
and Xin Zhao.
In Korea, same thing, JunJia dropped Udyr, Lillia, and Nidalee.
And in the past month he's actively playing Viego, Diana, and Xin Zhao, same as the others.
So what point am I getting at?
Well, total season profiles are deceiving.
The top players do in fact follow the meta and change what they're playing based on what's
strong on the patch.
However, people make the mistake of taking that too far and assume that the top players
are all playing the exact same champions.
We can see that's simply not the case.
Instead, they each select what fits their playstyle or preference from a pool of top
tier champions on the patch.
And that's the first thing the top players have in common from each region.
They aren't always playing the most OP champions or even S tier champions.
Instead, they typically play A Tier champions or higher that fit their playstyle and don't
play any lower than that.
Essentially, the rule to follow would be, it's not always the most important to play
what's strongest on the patch.
However, it is important you aren't playing something too weak.
Alright, now for what you've really been waiting for, let's jump into some actual gameplay.
After combing through countless games from each of these junglers we found 3 core tactics
each of them used in nearly every single game.
The first concept that each rank 1 jungler has in common is how they balance ganking
and farming in the early laning phase.
We all know the importance of farming our camps as a jungler, but it's not realistic
to just full clear over and over again and just try to gank while your camps are down
as you simply will be spending way too much time farming and not enough time impacting
the map.
Let's take a look at how the Rank 1 Korean jungler JunJia tackles this problem.
It's past 4 minutes into the game and Diana's second rotation of camps are respawning.
She kills her Gromp, and then her Wolves.
It's here we can see her Raptors are going to respawn soon, and her Krugs shortly after.
Most players would be thinking about farming efficiently and would head to their Raptors,
then their Krugs, and then look to gank after all their camps are down, especially this
early in the game.
However, take a look at the map.
Our bot lane just shoved in a big wave and now has a roam timing off of it.
If we look mid we can see both LeBlanc and Lucian are low on health and playing aggressive.
We have a timing window where we'll have a number advantage.
The enemy ADC has to go bot lane to pick up that wave that crashed into the tower or else
they'll fall behind.
By recognizing this opportunity, Diana is able to not only pick up 2 kills, but also
steal the Raptors after.
Now let's jump into a replay of Europe's Rank 1 jungler Razork.
It's almost the exact same time in the game, shortly past 4 minutes, he farms his Krugs,
then his Raptors.
We can now see his Wolves are respawning and his Gromp will be shortly after.
Again, most players wouldn't even think twice, they would farm these two camps and then look
for a gank after.
Instead, Razork notices a big wave built up bot side, this signals that there's a possible
dive opportunity when this wave crashes.
He also knows that bot lane's summoner spells are on cooldown from a fight earlier.
These are two timing windows, we have a dive opportunity off this big wave, that eventually
will go away, as well as the enemy summoner spells, that will eventually be back up.
He recognizes this opportunity and chooses to try to dive bot lane instead of farm his
other jungle quadrant.
And lastly, let's quickly take a look at the rank 1 North American jungler Armao.
Again, it's past 4 minutes, his second rotation of camps are up.
He farms his Gromp, Wolves, and then his Raptors.
Most players would then farm their Krugs and look for a gank after.
Instead, he chooses to head mid for a gank.
Why?
Because the wave is pushed up the lane, leaving Lucian more vulnerable, and Rumble will be
spiking level 6.
Just like the others, he recognizes a timing window that can go away if he doesn't take
advantage of it immediately.
Now, there are two key lessons you should be drawing from these 3 clips.
Firstly, is that it's okay to skip a camp if there's a play with a high percentage of
working out somewhere on the map.
Be active with your camera while you clear camps, don't just look for plays after you're
done farming.
However, it should be said, don't take it too far and skip camps to force plays.
It's okay to full clear if there are no plays to be made on the map.
Second, and this is a big one, take note of how each jungler fully cleared at least 1
quadrant before trying to make a play.
This accomplishes two things.
First, it syncs up the respawn timers of those camps in that quadrant.
This makes your pathing far more efficient in the future.
For example, if you were on the bottom side of the map and that Quadrant's respawn timers
were synced, you could farm your Gromp and Wolves, which are really close to each other,
while looking for a play on the bottom side of the map as you farm.
However, if your camps were desynced, and let's say your Gromp and Raptors were the
only camps alive, then you're much less flexible.
You'll kill your Gromp, then immediately have to decide whether to pivot to the top side
to kill your Raptors or commit to a play on the bottom side after only farming 1 camp.
Additionally, if you do decide to continue farming, the Raptor camp is much further away,
meaning you're spending more time moving to a location rather than farming, which lowers
your overall gold per minute.
To simplify this concept, instead of constantly trying to sync up your entire jungle by full
clearing, realize that's not always realistic and instead at least try to keep 1 quadrant's
respawn timer's synced up.
This will keep you farming efficiently enough while still being able to react to things
on the map.
Alright, now that you have a better understanding of balancing ganking and farming, let's move
on to the second thing the rank 1 junglers have in common: they play the opposite side
of the map.
Let me show you what I mean by this in this clip of the Rank 1 Korea jungler,
He starts the game bot side at his blue buff.
By paying attention to the lanes we see bot lane isn't leashing as they're in lane first,
while top is missing, indicating he's leashing their jungler top side.
So we now know that the junglers should be pathing away from each other.
Diana then full clears towards the top side of the map, and then heads towards the Scuttle.
We know the enemy jungler pathed away from us and so should be bot side heading towards
the Scuttle too.
After killing the Scuttle, let's take a look at our options.
No one is in mid lane as they just traded kills.
Top lane has a weak freeze in front of his tower.
Our bot lane has their own weak freeze in front of our tower.
What would you do in this scenario?
Well, we know the enemy jungler started top side, and so there's no camps alive there.
We have no gank mid since no one is there.
And the enemy top lane is relatively healthy with a safe freeze.
We should recall and head towards the bot side of the map.
Maybe we'll have a gank on the enemy bot lane if our bot maintains the freeze, if not, our
camps should respawn soon enough that we can fall back on clearing them.
This is why Diana begins to recall.
However, she then cancels it, why is this?
Well, while she was recalling, the top laners started to fight and she saw Viego was getting
low.
If Fiora wins or goes even in the trade, there's the potential for her to crash a wave and
for Diana to dive the top laner.
And I know what you're thinking, really?
A tower dive before 4 minutes?
That seems insanely risky, but it isn't.
This is because we know the enemy jungler is on the bottom side of the map, the opposite
side of us, and when that's the case, you have to realize you can look for aggressive
plays like these without the risk of being counter ganked.
A simpler way of understanding this, is imagine all players are in their respective lanes.
Then place each jungler on opposite sides of the map.
You'll realize it's just a simple number advantage, each team has 1 additional teammate on each
side of the map.
This means any plays that do happen on that side are highly likely to favor the team with
the jungler close by them.
Now, in this case, Fiora just completely inted, essentially baiting Diana to cancel the recall,
but things like this happen.
However, I just want to point out what happens on the opposite side of the map.
The enemy jungler also knows they're on opposite sides and executes a successful dive.
Alright, jumping to Europe's Rank 1 jungler, we see the same pattern.
Razork is heading out of base and see's a couple things bot side.
The enemy jungler is there, Renekton is there, who currently is the most fed member of the
enemy team, and Dragon is alive.
Instead of heading towards the bot side to take an even numbered fight that he would
probably lose due to being behind or not even be able to get there in time to defend the
Dragon he immediately knows to play the opposite side of the map and look for advantages there.
He looks for camps to steal in the enemy's jungle, and then is able to get a fight with
the enemy top laner.
Again, since we saw the jungler and his teammates bot side at Dragon, we know any fight that
breaks out top side will be a number advantage.
Suddenly, he didn't just give a Dragon up for free, he was able to take things on the
opposite side of the map to help make up for it.
And lastly, we see the same concept at play used by the Rank 1 North American jungler.
He's currently top side.
Dragon is up bot side and his bot lane is actually behind 2 kills and is weaker this
game.
The enemy taking Dragon is a serious threat, but instead of trying to head back bot side
to contest the Dragon, which he would probably lose due to his bot lane being behind, he
uses this time to look for plays on the top side of the map since he knows the enemy jungler
can't be there right now.
This is how he knows it's safe to look for this lane gank as there's no chance of the
enemy Evelynn counter ganking him.
The key lesson you should be taking away from this is that when you know the enemy jungler
is on the opposite side of the map you should be looking to make more aggressive plays on
the side you're currently on.
This is because there's less risk as there's no chance of the enemy jungler counter ganking
you, while also guaranteeing you will have the number advantage for any plays you do
make.
Alright, moving on to our third concept.
This one is the most advanced of the three and it has to do with understanding that the
direction you path changes once the laning phase starts getting to an end, let me explain.
Typically, in the early laning phase, let's say before the 10 minute mark, it's normal
for most junglers to think of pathing as wanting to start on the opposite side you want to
gank or influence.
For example, if I wanted to gank bottom side, I can start top side and farm my way down
towards that lane.
This way I'm clearing camps efficiently as I head towards the location I want to influence.
However, as it gets later into the laning phase, typically past 10 minutes, farming
efficiently starts to become less important than making plays.
No longer do you want to think about pathing in the traditional sense of left to right
or right to left, in a horizontal fashion.
Instead, you want to think of your pathing as top to bottom or bottom to top, in a vertical
fashion.
Let's jump into a replay of the Rank 1 korean jungler to show you what I mean.
Notice how it's around the 10 minute mark and he chooses to do the standard horizontal
pathing of right to left and then looks for a gank at the end of his path.
Okay, everything looks normal.
He then recalls, and starts heading back on the map,
Now pay attention to the path he takes, he's essentially just walking in a vertical path
straight to bot and just picks up camps that are alive nearby.
Then, once he makes the play bot, he doesn't make the mistake of thinking he should be
going back into his own jungle and farm right to left, horizontally.
His team won the fight they got into and he now has the number advantage.
This allows him to continue pushing forward and transition into taking the enemy's jungle
camps.
Same pattern found in Europe's Rank 1 jungler.
It's around 14 minutes into the game, the laning phase is coming to an end, and Viego
is leaving base.
You can see how his entire jungle is going to be alive.
However, he's no longer thinking about pathing Horizontally.
He's asking himself, what side of the map do I want to make a play and pressure?
In this case, it's top side, so he paths vertically, taking camps along the way to be efficient.
Then what does he do after he wins the fight?
He doesn't make the mistake of trying to back track into his own jungle, he then looks for
camps to take in the enemy's top side jungle.
As soon as he recalls you can see how he's immediately thinking of pathing vertically
again.
He heads towards the bot side to take a fight there and then after winning it is looking
to steal camps in the enemy's jungle on the same side of the map he fought on.
Jump ahead a few minutes, you see the same thing, he's leaving base and paths in a vertical
fashion, to pick camps along the way to the location of the map he wants to impact.
And lastly, let's take a look at the Rank 1 NA Jungler.
It's 16 minutes into the game, the laning phase has ended, and he's leaving base.
If we look at our camps, our Raptors and Gromp are alive.
We now know during this phase of the game we want to be thinking of pathing vertically,
so we'll have to decide whether to path top side or bot side.
If we look top, we see our Nasus split pushing.
Never a good idea to group with a split pusher, especially a Nasus.
If we look bot side, we see a close fight occurring with Tristana alive.
Obviously, we want to path bot side to help her out.
Diana picks up the Gromp along the way to be efficient, and then hits bot side to pick
up a kill.
What does she do after?
Look to clear camps in the enemy's bot side jungle off this winning fight.
So what's the lesson you want to take from this?
Well, once the laning phase is starting to end or has ended, begin to think of pathing
vertically.
Ask yourself, what side of the map do you want to impact?
Then path towards that side immediately, farm your camps on that side along the way, and
then look to steal the enemy's camps after a winning fight.
The reason we do this is that once the laning ends, players are doing a lot more grouping
and so you simply don't have the time to start on the opposite side you want to impact and
slowly full clearing where you want to be.
By pathing vertically, you can actually end up farming just as efficient as if you pathed
horizontally, since you can often steal the enemy's camps after a winning fight.
Alright, we covered a lot in this video, so let's recap what we've learned.
You first learned that in the early laning phase it's normal to have to ignore camps
to react to a valuable opportunity on the map.
However, always try to at least clear 1 quadrant before you try to make a play if you can help
it, as it will sync up their respawn timers and make for more efficient pathing in the
long run.
The second thing you learned was playing the opposite side of the map.
When junglers are on opposite sides of each other you want to look for aggressive plays
as you have the guaranteed number advantage and can't be counter ganked.
And lastly, once the laning ends try to plan your pathing vertically instead of horizontally.
You usually won't be able to keep up with the pace of the game if you try to continue
to standard horizontal pathing.
Instead, path vertically to get to where you're needed faster, and then look to steal the
enemy's jungle camps after you win fights.
Alright, that's going to do it for this one.
Let us know if you want us to continue this series with other roles and if so, what role
you would want us to do next.
We here at skill-capped want to thank you for watching and we'll catch you in the next
one.