They came from behind:<br> The top junglers for the World Championship

Alistar

Alistar is surely to be one of the most contested picks in the World Championship. Incredible both as a support and jungler, Alistar is in fact so viable that he’s likely to be banned out in a large portion of the games.

When he’s not terrorizing the bottom lane, Alistar is one of the most potent gankers, being a threat even during level one fights thanks to his Pulverize. As his W/Q combo provides a deadly combination of a distance closer, repositioning CC, a knock-up and a decent amount of damage, it is playfully easy for Alistar to secure kills in every lane. From level six and on, even towers can barely scratch him and there’s never really a safe place to be when an Alistar is jungled well.

He’s counter-jungled easily but that’s really OK for the bull as he’ll not be farming anyway but abusing Boots of Mobility to roam with a lightning-fast velocity, getting kills. His only real weakness is poor dragon control but teams often find a way to work around that so a jungler Alistar is definitely to be seen in October.


Amumu

Aeons ago in the time of stacking Heart of Golds and four junglers in total, Amumu was one of the kings of the forest. As time went by, new junglers were made and the meta changed, Amumu has been falling out of favor and although he’s still played, it’s nowhere near to the amount where we consider him a top pick.

Amumu’s innate problem lies in his predictable route which makes him easily countered by popular junglers such as Shyvana, Mundo or Skarner. Furthermore, his ganks almost exclusively rely on a successful Bandage Toss to yield results and even than it’s troublesome if the ultimate is on cooldown. Nevertheless, his powerful engagement and good synergy with the likes of Sona, Orianna and Malphite will pave a road to at least a couple of WC appearances.


Cho'Gath

On top lane, Cho’Gath is a champion that has powerful AoE crowd control, can sustain himself, farms well, is fat, gets fatter and doesn't die. In the jungle, he’s all that plus a second smite after level six.

So what does Cho do wrong and why is he no tier one pick in our eyes? It’s simple: he lacks the distance closer of the good ganker and cannot come out of nowhere with a terrifying speed. Truly, if Q successfully lands the target will likely die to a chain-CC but dodging it means that Cho will have to go back empty handed to a jungle that's likely to be empty. His powers of tankiness are great but not unmatched and thus it's likely we see him less often.


Dr. Mundo

One can argue that Mundo’s popularity is pretty much a product of the jungler meta-game. His clearing power and 1v1 prowess are amazing and make him a champion that can go on par with the Shyvanas and Skarners of the world. He has a decent poke and outstanding dragon control, his durability in mid-game and on is stunning and his damage output gets higher the more you beat him. Additionally, an Exhaust Mundo that chain-lands Cleavers is one of the scariest threats in the game, making him a very well-rounded jungler.

All of the above, combined with the fact that Mundo never gets banned, means he’ll surely make it to more than one or two matches.

Lee Sin

Ah, the blind monk! Diamondez once told us that you cannot call yourself a jungler before mastering Lee Sin and he can’t be more right.

Perfecting Lee Sin means reaching excellency with one of game’s most potent gankers and killers and if there’s one champion you can bet your house to be played a lot that’s LS. Sin will come through the river, through the lane, from the back and from outside the borders of the map and will use his two distance closers to glue himself to the target and never let go and not unlike Alistar he will not care if he’s counterjungled or not. He's played in every regional meta so expect him to be among the three most contested champions in October.


Malphite

Like many junglers in the pool, Malphite has this versatility that makes him good in many positions and teams are likely to contest him since he performs so well on top, mid and in the jungle.

Like Amumu, Malphite and his ultimate will shine in team fight compositions where the distance closing mass knock-up is of highest value. In addition, he clears the jungle with a lot of HP remaining making him very safe in counter-jungle duels and his killer level six burst makes up for his somewhat average early game ganking capabilities.

All in all, Malphite is to be picked a lot. If he will hit the jungle in the end is a whole different matter.


Maokai

OddOne’s discovery has everything a good jungler needs: fast clear, on-click distance closer, two CCs and an ultimate that is just brilliant in large fights. Together with Shyvana and Lee Sin, Maokai is part of the unofficial top 3 of junglers and will most probably lead the rankings for most contested champion overall. In time, experienced players have even found ways to work around Maokai’s terribleness in jungle invasions and, when played carefully and vigilantly, can often be seen in enemy territory.

Where Maokai struggles is his blue buff dependency in early-game, shitty 1v1 presence and very poor dragon control due to his laughable auto-attacks and smart teams will find ways to punish him for that by either contesting dragon on spawn or aggressively seeking engagements in Maokai’s jungle. As his strengths are far (far!) greater than his weaknesses, however, Maokai will see a lot of tournament play if he ever goes through the ban phase.


Nautilus

On paper, Nautilus should really be a good jungler. He’s tanky, he pummels enemies during ganks, he initiates well and he’s a big scary guy with a f****ng anchor on his shoulder. Yet he won’t be played much if at all, just because the jungling meta itself rejects him.

The problem with Nautilus is that his early level clearing speed is glacial slow and quick farmers will embarrass him in public by stealing half his camps before he masters enough momentum to respond. Since Nautilus needs levels to gank and farm effectively, a simple invasion will counter him hard without even beating him in direct duel. Chances to be played at the World Championship are slim, but we give him love because he’s so adorably huge and has a f****ng anchor on his shoulder.

Nocturne

Nocturne has been falling in and out of the top junglers list but never did he fully disappear from competitive play. Quick and safe jungleing is not Nocturne’s only strength as he can gank through wards, can be built as both bruiser and carry, has a decent CC and clicks so well in globally oriented compositions that feature the likes of Twisted Fate, Shen and Karthus. In fact, the only reason he’s not a top three jungler is that the actual top three often beat him 1v1 during counter jungling since they are tankier than Noc in the early game while dealing comparable amount of damage. However, if there are no direct confrontations or otherwise harmful events that will snowball Nocturne backwards, he can and will dominate lanes after level 6.


Nunu

The original lord of counter jungling, Nunu is expected to have a big presence during the World Championship. Most teams will pick him as an aggressive support but he’s just as good in the jungle, his biggest strength being the second smite at level one which allows him to disrupt enemy jungle camps with ease. His tankiness and high mobility through Blood Boil make him a wonderful Oracle carrier and, hence, even more unpredictable jungler. Oh, and there’s also one of the best ultimates in the entire game and the unmatched ability to steroid up the carry and peel off threats that thirst for said carry’s transient life.


Olaf

Olaf has been gaining more and more popularity and although he’s not what you might call a contested pick, it’s more likely than not that he will swing an axe or two in the World Championship. His outstanding early game, strong 1v1 presence and fast clear speed are what the jungling meta requires and all that is paired with an ultimate that makes Olaf a steroid beast who’s immune to all CC. He was recently seen as a counter pick to high-mobility carries as he’s a bruiser that can chase them out of the team fight and hunt them dead through a chain of Undertows.

Very much like Malphite, Olaf will be picked at least a couple of times but might very well end up in top lane and not in the jungle.


Shen

Hi, have you met Shen?

Of course you haven’t, he’s been permabanned for ages! In fact, if we are to speak frankly, Shen should really not be here at all as he’s the most unlikely champion in the game to make the jungle. How so, you ask? Well first he has to live through the ban phase (he won’t); second, the top laner will have to pass him to the jungler (he won’t); and third, if he ever does (and he won’t), aggressive farmers and duelers will beat the crap out of him during invasions.

Honestly, he’s in this preview only because he’s an OP ninja that appears out of goddamn nowhere with his ultimate and turns the whole fight around and that’s worth a sentence or two.


Shyvana

There she is, the queen of the jungle, farmer extraordinaire, engager, disengager, objective controller, counter jungler supreme and a big ass tanky dragon in her ultimate. Owing most of her popularity to Moscow 5’s Diamondz, Shyvana will be played in the larger portion of the games since banning her is not the most common practice out there. Her only real weakness is the lack of any CC but red buff routes and Exhaust compensate for that and make her the most well-rounded jungler in the pool.

In team fights she'll be seen glued to the enemy carry, perma-slowing it via Frozen Mallet and DPSing it down through a shredded armor and Wit's End. And she does do damage, lots of damage.


Skarner

Sharing all of Shyvana’s strengths, Skarner is also one of the reasons why poke compositions have been losing popularity. The ability to charge in a team either through Shurelia or Jayce’s Acceleration Gate (a hero duet that TSM and both Korean teams heavily favor) and drag someone into tower range is just invaluable.

Will he see play in the tournamet? Like we said, he’s practically a second Shyvana, so what do you think?


Udyr

Udyr has also been around forever and has always been a staple in the jungle. And why wouldn’t he be, he’s almost as well-rounded and perfect as are the last two champions we talked about: he farms insanely fast, is tanky and is great for dragon control. His ganks are decent enough but mostly rely on getting to the lane undetected as his distance closer is not really the best out there.

Sadly, that last part will leave him out of most of the games as there are just more dangerous bruisers out there and because Jatt is not playing professional LoL anymore.


Xin Zhao

Ok, you got me, I really wanted Riven in here for the sake of nostalgia but Xin Zhao is just stronger. Ever since he was remade, threads of the “XZ is OP as ****, get people to ban him!” type populated the forums swiftly, and with good reason.

If you’ve ever been two-shot by Xin Zhao in solo queue you will understand why the spearman is here. Xin Zhao has the ability to dish out magnitudes of damage (honestly, it borderlines insanity) and joins the group of slow farmers but brutal duelers and killers. The only reason he will not be seen in most of the games is that Lee Sin is, in many ways, simply better and more versatile in killing.

The moral of the story in that case is: ban Lee Sin, get people to play Xin Zhao for the sake of entertainment.