In Korean Challenger, one of the things Jungler's prioritize most is being unpredictable.
It's really rare to see the same route in back to back games as Junglers are constantly
mixing up their pathing and invades to confuse and surprise super smart enemy laners.
So, when we were reviewing replays as we often do, it shocked us to see the same route showing
up over and over--often even being done by both Junglers in the same game.
This is...really weird, guys.
So, we knew right away that if a route was good enough to be used constantly in Korean
Challenger, it must be a hell of a route.
Today, we'll be detailing all the ins and outs for you so you can jump straight into
ranked with it easily.
So, what is this magical route?
Well, it starts out very basic and with something that we've all seen before--a simple Red,
Blue, Gromp for level 3.
Obviously this is nothing groundbreaking, but what's important is understanding the
options from there At any point after hitting level 3 you are,
of course, free to gank any nearby lanes, but there are some specific timings you'll
want to hit that we'll discuss later.
But, if you don't have good ganks available to you you're also able to "reverse clear"
back to your Wolves and raptors then take Scuttle for level 4 at 3:30ish.
After that, once again, you can look for a level 4 gank, take Krugs, or this timing is
actually great to counter jungle Gromp and get a deep ward if the enemy Jungler started
Blue.
So, this route has tons of options all the way throughout and starts you by hitting level
3 quickly so that you're strong and able to respond to plays while also having a decently
efficient level 4 option.
Beyond that, this route counters a lot of level 2 invade strategies naturally by taking
both buffs as your first two camps.
Alright, now that we have a baseline understand of the route, let's jump into replays and
see exactly how top Korean players get the very most out of it.
In this game we join with Tarzan who is currently rank 16 on the Korean ladder piloting Sett.
We start out seeing the first 3 steps of the route that are always the same--red, blue,
into Gromp.
At this point you want to already know if the side lane is gankable, which, in this
case it's really not with Kennen already being shoved to tower with full health.
If you're not ganking side lane, you have a few options.
First, you can run straight to mid lane.
However, the potential issue with that is..you'll arrive before the mid laners hit level 3.
This CAN be a good thing but usually isn't.
For example, in this game, he really wants his Galio to be level 3 to unlock his full
combo.
But, let's say the mid lane matchup was something like this.
In this case it's better to arrive at level 2.
TF already has his CC and Corki won't have Valkyrie yet.
So, against champions like these who unlock some defensive options at level 3 you might
want to run straight mid and gank while they are still level 2.
But, if you do want to stall for level 3 mid lane, like you would in this game, you can
just head to wolves.
This also allows you to gank mid from either side of the lane, so be sure to watch them
closely to see where they ward, where they're standing, etc.
Now, obviously you don't HAVE to gank mid with the alternative just being continuing
your farming route with Raptors.
At this point you can see that your finish Raptors right about when Scuttle spawns
But, instead of taking that for level 4, Tarzan decides to run straight bottom where he has
great gank setup, pickup up first blood onto Lucian.
So, you can see that within the first 3.5 minutes of this game, this route has given
Tarzan good options to gank every lane, play to either side of the map, or just hit level
4 off scuttle at a decent time.
Now, what do you think the enemy Jungler was doing this whole time?
Well, the exact.
same.
thing.
Voli, who is rank 93 on the KR ladder, starts out at a leashless red before running to blue,
clearint it out as well as Gromp for level 3.
As he's finishing Gromp he sees the enemy bot lane with prio, moving into the river
to ward, so he just runs back to Wolves.
He and Ori don't really have kill pressure mid unless Galio randomly engages, so it's
not super reliable, resulting in Voli just heading for Raptors then into the river, eventually
taking Scuttle for level 4.
At this point, as we mentioned, you have a couple of options.
He can't really gank top because Jayce was just seen leaving lane to ward.
Had the enemy Jungler started Blue, he could invade Gromp in about 30 seconds, but we know
the enemy Jungler started red, so that's not an option.
So, at this point we would recommend taking Krugs to accelerate your level 6.
However, we see Voli recall, and this is where we do see one of the semi weaknesses of this
route.
Because you take buff camps first, your other camp respawns are a bit delayed as we see
Voli just waiting around for a long time at Gromp.
Our guess is that he thought he could gank bottom or cover for them and that's why he
didn't do Krugs.
And, while this is a semi weakness, it's really not a big deal.
If you either gank anywhere once or take your Krugs after scuttle then this won't really
happen.
In this next game we've got T1 Cuzz who is only a measly rank 87 on the KR ladder but...ya
know...he's also Faker's Jungler on T1 so there's that.
Seems decent.
Of course he's doing the same route taking Red, Blue, and Gromp.
The enemy bot lane is shoved under tower so a dive there would be quite risky with his
HP.
And, once again, with a Galio mid, he definitely wants to do Wolves to stall for level 3 if
he were to gank mid.
As he's finishing wolves, Lee lane ganks mid getting Galio low, so a gank there has become
difficult.
So, he just carries on, taking Raptors at which point he sees Camille very pushed up
top side.
The gank doesn't end up panning out since Kennen isn't able to land any stun and Camille
is obviously just a slippery target.
After that, though, he's able to take scuttle for level 4.
And, once again, this is the perfect timing to invade if the enemy Jungler started blue...which
he didn't...because he was doing the same route!
In this same game Lee does the same three camp start...
But, as we saw he ends up running straight down mid lane instead of taking Wolves.
Our guess on this one is that he was expecting an early J4 gank mid, saw Zoe playing really
aggressively, and just wanted to cover which is why he went through lane.
In this next game we ONCE AGAIN get to see BOTH Junglers using this same exact plan.
But, let's start by focusing in on Kha'Zix who takes red, W's Raptors on his way, and
quickly hits level 3.
Both of his laners are pushing pretty aggressively so he just ends up doing wolves before covering
Leblanc as she survived a gank.
At this point the cover mid delayed him enough that he can go straight to scuttle isntead
of taking raptors.
His Leblanc ends up going down to the regank, so he just runs mid and soaks hitting level
4 that way.
So, this is just an example of how you can react to things going on around the map--first
covering mid, heading to scuttle off the delay, then soaking mid after.
Now, let's see what prompted the early aggression and two ganks on the other side from Sett
as he hits level 3.
He instantly starts running mid lane for a gank, sweeping as he arrives.
If we look at mid earlier, we can see that Leblanc was pushing aggressively and harassing
Sylas a lot--even using W. Beyond that, you don't need to stall with wolves when ganking
for Sylas as he has his CC already at level 2.
Beyond all of that, when you see a really rough early matchup getting a big wave crashed
on it...you can really bail out your teammate by helping them.
So, this was a really good decision from Sett to come in and gank this lane right away.
The return gank probably shouldn't have worked, but Sett likely felt pressured into ganking
with all 3 of his lanes being shoved in.
Awesome.
We've now seen a lot of examples of how top Korean players adapt this route to specific
in game situations.So, let's end with a few more pieces of info...such as which Junglers
can or should pull this off!
And...there are A LOT.
Really the only requirement for this route is that you be able to kill single target
camps since that's what your first 3 camps are.
And, here are some champs that you probably won't want to do this on.
Some of them can do the clear, it's just not optimal or playing to their strengths.
For example, Karthus or Nocturne can do it, but they would usually rather just full clear
as efficiently as possible to race for level 6--while someone like Ekko or Sylas just are
awful at clearing single target camps and shouldn't do it for that reason.
The only time you would want to use this route on a champ who would prefer to full clear,
like Karthus, Master Yi, Shyvana, etc. is if you're worried about being invaded.
As we mentioned, going buff to buff does help to counter level 2 invades, so if that's an
issue you're running into, this is a solid option.
Ok, next up, one of the really nice things about this route is that, like we just said,
you're taking double buffs right away, so you don't need to ward your jungle level 1
as much unless you're worried about a late invade.
So, instead, you could place a deeper ward for some information on the enemy Jungler,
save it for deep vision later if you invade Gromp, ward for a pushing laner--whatever.
If you prefer to have a sweeper at level 1 that's also fine...we think there are situations
where both are good, but that's a topic for another video, so whichever you're more comfortable
with.
Alright, and the last thing I want to touch on here is how, in some matchups, you might
want to adjust your route to avoid the other Jungler.
For example, Let's say you're playing Khazix here on the blue side and you're up against
an Elise.
This is a touchy early matchup for the bug--who can get hit pretty hard if the Elise catches
him out.
You start this route, going from red up to the top side.
And, you also saw that Elise had started red and are assuming she's headed bottom.
Most Elise's prefer to start ganking right where they hit level 3, so she'll probably
be bottom side for a while.
In a game like this, instead of looping back with wolves and Raptors then trying for bottom
scuttle, you might want to, instead, look for a gank top side more than you normally
would, or invade Raptors since Elise rarely takes those in her first clear.
This will allow you to stall for 3:15, which you can also use wolves for if you need more
time--secure top scuttle, then either just reset or clear back down then.
And, that does it!
We hope you enjoyed learning about the top route in Korean Solo Q and how you can start
to use it right away.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.