League of Legends Jungle Guide for Season 10

The jungle in League of Legends has been constantly changing and evolving since the game launched. With another new set of changes arriving to the jungle in Season 10, it's time for an in-depth look at what it takes to jungle in the new season.

League of Legends Jungle Guide

Camp Experience and Gold Changes

This is by far the biggest change in the jungle. Camps now award different amounts of gold and experience, which can significantly change the way a jungler clears early in the game. The amount of gold and experience given by taking the Gromp was increased, while the amount of gold and experience given by taking Krugs was decreased. Now both a full red-side clear and a full blue-side clear will give you level three. Assuming, of course, you purchased a jungle item.

When all changes are considered, jungle camps now yield significantly less gold and experience. When matched with similar buffs to solo lane experience, junglers will find themselves two to three levels behind solo laners by the time solo laners reach level six. Even though camp respawn timers were decreased, hard farming junglers like Graves will still be behind in gold and experience.

Finally, all catch-up experience was removed from the jungle. That means that camps no longer yield bonus experience if you are a lower level than your opponent or if the camp has been taken by your opponent.

What does all of this mean? It means that the pool of jungle champions is significantly smaller than in Season 9 and focused on early game champions that clear well, gank well, and solo dragons well. With most powerful solo-laners being able to isolate junglers and kill them with the gold and experience advantage earned in lane, an early lead is necessary to stay relevant in the mid-game. You can get an early lead through proper jungle pathing and well executed ganks.

Dragons and Rift Herald

Season 10 also brought with it a series of changes to two of the three major objectives in the jungle. The Rift Herald now spawns two minutes earlier at 8 minutes and will spawn again 6 minutes after it is captured. Unless, of course, it would spawn after 20 minutes. This means that junglers who can solo objectives well, with enough lane pressure, can secure essentially three turret plates worth of gold early in the game, with first turret bonus gold likely to follow.

Dragons now carry with them additional bonuses for slaying four dragons. Although the bonuses given by each dragon were decreased by approximately half, the bonuses given by the dragon souls more than make up for the difference.

For example, before Season 10, Ocean Dragon only gave bonus health and mana regeneration while outside of combat, but now Ocean Dragon Soul gives bonus health regeneration while in combat with enemy champions.

The Elder Dragon buff was also adjusted and now gives the capturing team an automatic execute on low health members. Elder Dragon will only spawn after a team has capture the dragon soul, instead of at a specific time in the game like previous seasons.

With these new changes, junglers should prioritize getting early dragons in order to apply pressure to the opposing team. This gives you an opportunity to force down towers or sneak a Baron while the enemy team is occupied with preventing you from acquiring the soul.