I've been playing Malphite solo top from level 10-15 so far and really enjoy it. There are a few people that suggest he can also be a good jungler, which I've found a build for.
My question is: what do you actually do in the jungle? Is there a sort of route you should follow to continually farm mobs and then look for ganks etc while doing so? Also, what's the deal with the blue and reds? Are these always given to the jungler?
Cheers.
There are a few champs who can play either the solo top role or jungle. Which way is right I don't know but it would be up to a) what your team needed, b)what you feel comfortable with c)Team comp of your team and the enemies.
A few examples who can jungle or go solo top are Lee Sin, Malphite etc.
After 2 and a half years of playing LoL it is only these past 2 days that I have started to learn to Jungle.
At the moment I like Trundle, Nunu and Udyr are my faves. Didn't like Nocturne for some reason and Malphite and Amumu I found was decent but had more fun playing Nunu.
But I need to try Skarner, Nautilus or Maokai.
You really need to ask Mcknight about Jungling as he is the resident OCUK mumble LoL jungler.
But by going Jungle you have effectively 3 lanes which are solely gaining XP and Gold. As a jungler you need to control your jungle distibuting the red/blue buff between yourself and AD/AP carries when you feel you don;t need them and where it would benefit them more to help carry the game.
You also need to control Baron and Dragon. Generally you need to be at the forefront of controlling those or to prevent it from going to the enemy.
Also becuase you have 3 solo lanes effectively you need to help out the top lane as usually they are by themselves with mid. Of course there is bottom lane as well.
It's really a thankless task just as playing support is but a little more exciting than support!
When a gank goes well then you get the compliments but when all lanes are in trouble you are expected to be everywhere while trying to keep farmed up and lvl'ing.
Then there is more with counter jungling to try and slow their team down with buff stealing while protecting your own assets.
timing the buffs when they spawn and when they will respawn after they have been killed. Keeping a cautious eye on the dragon timer. Knowing where their jungler is and his side of the maps buffs timer.
I personally never seen the the jungler role appealing to me. I have 99.9% only played support. If I screw up and the carry and I die he just yells at me. But if a jungler screws up then all the lanes berate him like "WHY YOUSE NO GANK MY LANEZZZZ" kind of aggro.
Although I must admit there are very few things in Lol nowadays that make me smile. Invading the enemy jungle and stealing their blue when they either have an Amumu, Skarner, Maokai jungling (they are all typically regarded as a)mana hungry and b)They really need to start blue first) brings a wry smile to this weary face.
I remember this one game where we stole Maokai's blue. Saw him once all game when he was seriously behind who then went on a ezreal who was under a tower and then stunned by me as Taric. Then Rage quit.
Although I really than thank the days Rammus is no longer seen powerballing out of the bush then flash taunt to my carry.
He use to be very very strong jungler and in dominion when it first came out he was stupidly OP.
Wonder if Mcknight could explain why Rammus is no longer picked for the jungle scenario.